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Rendering to PNG or SVG ​

An encoded barcode is just a matrix of booleans. To turn it into an image, use the two render helpers on the Barcode base class, or use the renderer classes directly for more control.

The render helpers ​

Barcode::renderPng and Barcode::renderSvg render the matrix to an image string. Both accept the same four options:

  • scale: the size in pixels of a single module (default 8).
  • margin: the quiet zone around the barcode in pixels (default 16).
  • backgroundColor: a hex color for the background (default #ffffff).
  • foregroundColor: a hex color for the dark modules (default #000000).
php
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

use Raxos\Barcode\QRCode;

$barcode = new QRCode('https://bas.dev');

$png = $barcode->renderPng(scale: 6, margin: 12);
$svg = $barcode->renderSvg(
    backgroundColor: '#ffffff',
    foregroundColor: '#111111'
);

renderPng returns raw PNG bytes, renderSvg returns a full SVG document as a string. Colors are passed as hex strings such as #ffffff and converted internally with ColorUtil from raxos/foundation.

The PNG renderer ​

Raxos\Barcode\Renderer\PNGRenderer draws the matrix onto a GD true color image and returns the PNG bytes. It requires the gd extension. The renderPng helper is a thin wrapper around it, so these two calls are equivalent:

php
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

use Raxos\Barcode\QRCode;
use Raxos\Barcode\Renderer\PNGRenderer;

$barcode = new QRCode('https://bas.dev');

$viaHelper = $barcode->renderPng(scale: 6);
$viaRenderer = new PNGRenderer(scale: 6)->render($barcode);

Using the renderer directly is useful when you want to reuse the same configuration across several barcodes, or when you want to read its mimeType property, which is set to image/png.

WARNING

The PNG renderer needs the gd extension. It throws a RuntimeException if the image cannot be created or the PNG output cannot be captured.

The SVG renderer ​

Raxos\Barcode\Renderer\SVGRenderer builds an SVG document from the matrix. It has no extra extension requirements, so it works even where GD is unavailable. To keep the output small, it merges horizontal runs of adjacent dark modules into a single <rect> element rather than emitting one rectangle per module.

php
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

use Raxos\Barcode\PDF417;
use Raxos\Barcode\Renderer\SVGRenderer;

$barcode = new PDF417('RAXOS-0001-EXAMPLE');

$svg = new SVGRenderer(scale: 4, margin: 8)->render($barcode);

Its mimeType property is set to image/svg+xml.

Choosing a format ​

Use PNG when you need a raster image to embed or serve as a file, for example behind an image endpoint. Use SVG when you want a resolution independent, easily styled document, or when the gd extension is not available in your environment.