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Interleaved 2 of 5

type of barcode

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ5977491
Source-derived summary

Interleaved 2 of 5 (ITF) is a continuous two-width barcode symbology encoding digits. It is used commercially on 135 film, for ITF-14 barcodes, and on cartons of some products, while the products inside are labeled with UPC or EAN. ITF was created by David Allais, who also invented barcodes Code 39, Code 11, Code 93, and Code 49.

Encoding scheme

ITF encodes pairs of digits; the first digit is encoded in the five bars (or black lines), while the second digit is encoded in the five spaces (or white lines) interleaved with them. Two out of every five bars or spaces are wide, giving the name "2 of 5", and each pair has a consistent width. The wide lines form a two-out-of-five code with consecutive values of 1, 2, 4, 7, and 0, where the code 0 is assigned to the value of 11. This is similar to the POSTNET bar code.

The digits are encoded to symbols as follows:

where "n" is a narrow line (bar or space) and "W" a wide line (2.0 to 3.0 times the width of a narrow line).

Because digits are encoded by pairs, only an even number of digits can be encoded. Typically an odd number of digits is encoded by adding a "0" as first digit, but sometimes an odd number of digits is encoded by using five narrow spaces in the last digit.

A checksum can be added as last digit, which is calculated in the same way as UPC checksums.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Interleaved 2 of 5” as type of barcode. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Interleaved, type and barcode.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 250-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Interleaved, type and barcode providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Interleaved 2 of 5”, the useful work is to connect “type of barcode” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5977491. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Interleaved 2 of 5”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Interleaved 2 of 5 primary sources, Interleaved 2 of 5 archive and Interleaved research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Interleaved 2 of 5”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Interleaved 2 of 5” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.