ITF Scanner
Read Interleaved 2 of 5 and ITF-14 — the numeric barcodes printed on shipping cartons and corrugated board.
Scan a code with your camera, drop in an image, or paste one with Ctrl + V.
How to use the ITF Scanner
- Point your camera at the carton, drop in a photo, or paste an image with Ctrl + V.
- ITF is often printed large on cardboard — step back far enough to get the whole width in frame.
- The digits appear with the symbology named.
About the ITF Scanner
ITF — Interleaved 2 of 5 — is a numeric-only symbology built for one job: surviving being printed directly onto corrugated cardboard. It is unusually tolerant of the rough, absorbent surface of a shipping carton, where finer barcodes smear into unreadability.
The "interleaved" part is a genuine space-saving trick rather than jargon. Digits are encoded in pairs: the first digit of the pair is carried by the bars, the second by the spaces between them. Nothing is wasted, which is why ITF is compact despite its tolerance for coarse printing. It also means an ITF barcode must contain an even number of digits — an odd count is padded with a leading zero.
ITF-14 is the fourteen-digit version used to mark a shipping carton with the product it contains. The first digit is a packaging indicator saying what level of packaging this is — an inner pack, a case, a pallet — followed by the product number and a check digit. Scanning a carton therefore tells you both what is inside and what kind of container it is.
Read one with your camera, an image, or a paste with Ctrl + V. Everything decodes locally. For the alphanumeric codes on courier labels see the Code 128 scanner.
Frequently asked questions
Why must ITF have an even number of digits?
Because digits are encoded in pairs — one in the bars, one in the spaces. An odd count cannot be paired, so a leading zero is added.
What is ITF-14 used for?
Marking a shipping carton with the product it holds. The first digit indicates the packaging level, the middle digits identify the product, and the last is a check digit.
Why is ITF used on cardboard?
It tolerates coarse, absorbent printing surfaces far better than finer symbologies, so it stays readable when printed straight onto corrugated board.
Can ITF encode letters?
No. It is numeric only. If you need letters on a carton label, Code 128 is the usual choice.