How PDF417 Fontware Works?

There are five fonts in the Morovia PDF417 font family. The typeface begins with MRV which is the vendor ID for Morovia Corporation, Font department. Each font has a different height/width ratio ranging from 3 to 7:

To generate a PDF417 symbol, retrieve the encoding results (called barcode string)
from the PDF417 encoder (either from GUI or ActiveX) and format them with the appropriate PDF417 font:

00AB95CFCB0820CA1116F845CC563E02EB7
00AB82BE4D1DE3E9D0B7B8EC4C15CE02EB7
00AB9583DDF4253811B82A310C0A5E02EB7
00AB85A1CEB3E44F76E67BC8E5410602EB7
00AB9427C7D963B131BE68A77CA3DE02EB7
00AB850DC0D3AE1BD31B890B9C507602EB7
00AB9638421DA508369CF9E75D631E02EB7
00AB816C5051E3ECB3B1789C6C2D7E02EB7
00ABACC1D9F62CE4370F6B390C163602EB7
00ABAE31CCB7EB3CF26EFAF39D73E602EB7
00AB963F4BF1617DD1FB2A0A3CB1DE02EB7
00ABAEF0D827A8B9F67D1A620C171602EB7
00AB8BE8C90C23CD9116F845CD78E202EB7
00AB85C9CD1DE3E9B7A1E85D7C2EEE02EB7
00AB97D05C3DAC12F6118905DC6A0602EB7
00AB8D21D9CFAE9CF672F9EDE4D79E02EB7
00ABAE044288EEC370B7BA604D70FA02EB7
00ABB4604A05EF64171DCBB61C683602EB7
00AB8979C475EF49F0849842BC4B9E02EB7
00AB85F748342263B0B93857DD782602EB7
00AB8DA04853E052F32C3BC12DB78602EB7

00AB9852CBFEC4BD018D2E03CEA91D101B67FB8E5CC4C1653CE02EB7
00AB985A31DCDEFB432E54348F1716BE8627AB3C180EC504A150E602EB7
00AB9845207DC0D36A3EB11B3D13B1EB6889A07B79C530D7E602EB7
00AB9861368C452015D1AE530E8C3B639BC1F798E97C56DC623D17E02EB7
00ABAEC31C9CFB672ECBE34C3F7206FE6FBA3F9309CD17633E602EB7
00AB9A6E3FF04DB8F2176A187BD9DF16F7BD21A6A230C117D1E602EB7
00AB85EC89CD01CD2E3ED99B171A61FE855DC7DC728EEE02EB7
00AB987DD2015DC93CDFAE192CF617128F9E5DDEC46DA7096E02EB7
00ABABE406404A8085EFC6347107B17DBCAB6B0641DC7608F3A602EB7
00AB8D5AF0744885334E2025623FB302BC933B8C5172DDDB778826E02EB7

Figure 1 PDF417 Generated using PDF417 Font. The left side is the barcode string which becomes a PDF417 barcode after formatted with PDF417 Font.

To change the symbol size, you just need to change the point size used. We recommend you use a point size ranged between 3 and 20. (value 6 is preferred).

PDF417 Encoder (GUI)

The GUI version of the PDF417 encoder can be found under the shortcut Morovia|PDF417 Fontware.

Press copy you copies both font information and barcode string into the clipboard. To receive the barcode string in text form, paste into a text-only program such as Notepad.

There is four parameters you can adjust: security level, truncated symbol, number of columns and number of rows. Each parameter impacts the final barcode string.

Security Level
You can select a value from 0 to 8 for the security level used during encoding process. The higher the value is, the more secure the symbol. However, it also dramatically increases the space overhead. If you choose 9, the program will pick the best security level for you, based on the data encoded.

Truncated Symbol
A PDF417 symbol can be truncated to save the space. Under this option, the right stop pattern is reduced to a single bar.

Number Of Columns
A PDF417 symbol can have 1 to 30 columns in the data area. If you select 0 for this parameter, the program automatically chooses the number of columns.

Number Of Rows
A PDF417 symbol can have 3 to 90 rows in the data area. If you select 0 for this parameter, the program automatically chooses the number of rows.

Special Characters
PDF417 can also encode characters with values greater than 127. It can not encode double-byte characters. It can also encode control characters. To put a special character into the input, use the following form:

\ddd

Where ddd is the three-digit ASCII value for the character. For example, to encode special character carriage return (\r), just type \013 instead. To encode backslash sign (\), type two backslash signs.