Does scaling of barcode image damages it?

Question

I have a barcode image. I have to make it smaller.

Can that damage the barcode?

1. Proportional scaling

2. Not proportional scaling (only height changes)

Barcodes are: Type UPC-A / EAN-13 "vertical lines". Sorry not an expert in barcodes, thought the type of barcode would not be important. Scaling is moderate, the image does not lose relevant data.

Answer 1

Regular barcode (=vertical stripes) is recognized by the relative width of the lines. Thus, the horizontal height only matters for robustness against diagonal scanning. If the codes are scanned with a hand scanner, I'd just scale the height (or crop the image). In any case, the different widths of the lines should still be clearly visible. There may be compliance rules suggesting minimum proportions for a given barcode standard.

Answer 2

For regular linear product barcodes, the simple answer is yes, you can scale it (both case are safe).

However, if you scale too far and the bars end up too close together, you will start to get a high level of read errors.

You'll need to test it with an appropriate barcode reader to make sure you haven't scaled too much.