Barcode labels are a ubiquitous part of everyday life. Almost all product packages, important documents, passports, tickets, and other items are stamped with a small square containing a series of wide and narrow lines. Barcodes are used to keep track of information, to inventory items, and for security purposes. Almost all modern consumer goods have a barcode attached to them, making the barcode one of the most familiar pieces of technology known to man.

Barcode labels work on the principle of representing numbers in binary code. Binary is a method of counting which uses a series of 1s and 0s to represent different numbers. In a barcode, lines and spaces are used to symbolize 1s and 0s, allowing any number to be printed in the form of a series of lines and spaces.

In a relatively short period of time, barcode labels have gone from an application used by a niche market to having universal, worldwide use. Barcode labels permeate everyday life and are now an integral part of our society. As printing and scanning technologies become more advanced and developed, the amount of data stored in a barcode label is likely to increase by orders of magnitude, which is sure to have long lasting implications for industry and consumers throughout the world.