What Data is Encoded into My Barcode?

A retail barcode is simply a unique number encoded as an image. As such it does not contain any company or product information encoded into it. When the barcode goes into stores, the product information is attached to the barcode in the store’s scanning system so that when the barcode is scanned it links the computer to the associated product information.

Other barcodes can have different information encoded in them, for example QR Codes can encode up to 1048 different characters including HTML code. This allows them a wide variety of functions.

Look here for CD barcodes, DVD barcodes, ISBN book barcodes and ISSN magazine barcodes.