B-Coder Professional has the ability to save bar codes in all major graphic file formats including the GIF file format that is used extensively in web pages. By default, when you save a GIF file in B-Coder, it will save the file as an "uncompressed" GIF. GIF files can also use a special data compression algorithm called LZW compression that up until July of 2004 was protected by a Patent held by Unisys Corporation. The size difference between uncompressed and compressed GIF files is typically ten to one therefore you can greatly reduce the size of any bar code image saved as a GIF file by enabling GIF compression in B-Coder.

Because of the patent protection of the LZW compression techniques, B-Coder would normally not allow you to create LZW compressed GIF files without you first purchasing a special license directly from Unisys. To enforce this, B-Coder has two options that are used to first enable LZW compression in GIF files as well as specify a special "unlock code" that would unlock the LZW compression feature in B-Coder after you purchase the license from Unisys.

Now that the Unisys patent has expired, you are now legally allowed to use LZW compression in GIF files without having to pay a license fee to Unisys however in order to do so, you will need to configure two parameters in B-Coder that will both enable LZW compression as well as unlock it.

• Run B-Coder and generate a bar code as you normally would.
• Select "Raster Image Properties" from the B-Coder FILE menu. This will display the following window.

• In the window, place a check mark next to the option "GIF Compression (LZW)" and in the textbox labeled "LZW License" enter the number: 29031947 and click the OK button.
• When you want to save your bar codes to GIF files, select the option "Save Bar Code As..." from the B-Coder File menu and save the bar code image file using the GIF file name extension.