Popularized by the TousAntiCovid application, the Datamatrix codes are found on many packaging. These are cousins of the QR code.
You may have already seen it on medicine boxes, on bus stops, on your EDF bill or even in the TousAntiCovid application. The Datamatrix code is everywhere, even if its name is little known.
Present on many administrative documents, the Datamatrix is less known than the now famous QR Code, whose use has exploded with the arrival of smartphones. The two systems are however similar, since they both belong to the category of two-dimensional barcodes.
Advantages and disadvantages of QR Code and Datamatrix
The QR Code, which is now natively recognized by most of our smartphones, can contain more information (up to 4,296 alphanumeric characters). It also better manages the encoding of Japanese characters (country where it was invented).
The Datamatrix code is fairly randomly recognized by our mobile phones (impossible to read with the native iOS photo application for example) and can only contain a maximum of 2335 alphanumeric characters. On the other hand, it has a greater information density than the QR code. This means that on a given surface, the Datamatrix will contain more characters than the QR code, which makes it easier to use in certain industrial processes where tracking marking must be as compact as possible. That’s why it’s printed on many boxes.
This is also partly why the National Agency for Secure Documents (ANTS) implemented the famous “2D-Doc” solution which is based on the Datamatrix. In the technical specifications of its standard, the ANTS authorizes the printing of codes ranging from 58 mm to 16 mm on each side, a minimum size more appropriate to the Datamatrix than to the QR Code therefore.
It is therefore not a surprise that the vaccination and test certificates of TousAntiCovid use this system since “Ie ISO/IEC Datamatrix format 16022 square shape with ECC200 correction level» is the graphic representation mode retained by the ANTS for «simplification of administrative procedures“. In short, the next time you see a weird QR code, you’ll know it’s a Datamatrix.
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