Export Barcodes to Images and PDF

• Jun 25, 2026
• 3 minutes to read

Use the BarcodeGenerator class to export barcodes to in-memory images and PDF documents.

Export API

Method	Usage
BarcodeGenerator.Export	Exports a barcode to a stream.
BarcodeGenerator.ExportAsync	Exports a barcode to a stream asynchronously.
ExportToImage	Exports a barcode to a DXImage object.
BarcodeGenerator.ExportToImageAsync	Exports a barcode to a DXImage object asynchronously.
ExportToPdf	Exports a barcode to a PDF document.

Export Barcodes to an Image

Use the BarcodeGenerator.ExportToImage method to obtain a DXImage object (for example, for image previews, post-processing, and custom save logic).

The following code snippet creates a barcode image in memory and saves it to a file:

C#

using DevExpress.Docs.Barcode;
using DevExpress.Drawing;
using System.Drawing;

using var fileStream = new FileStream("logo.png", FileMode.Open);

var qrOptions = new QRCodeOptions();
qrOptions.Logo = DXImage.FromStream(fileStream);
qrOptions.Version = QRCodeVersion.Version10;
qrOptions.ModuleSize = 40;
qrOptions.BackColor = Color.LightGray;
qrOptions.ShowText = false;

using var qrOptionsStream = new FileStream(Path.Combine(outDir, "barcode_symbology_qr_code.png"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
using var qrOptionsGenerator = new BarcodeGenerator(qrOptions);
var image = qrOptionsGenerator.ExportToImage("https://www.devexpress.com", DXImageFormat.Png);
image.Save(qrOptionsStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

VB.NET

Import DevExpress.Docs.Barcode
Import DevExpress.Drawing
Import System.Drawing

Using fileStream As New FileStream("logo.png", FileMode.Open)
    Dim qrOptions As New QRCodeOptions()
    qrOptions.Logo = DXImage.FromStream(fileStream)
    qrOptions.Version = QRCodeVersion.Version10
    qrOptions.ModuleSize = 40
    qrOptions.BackColor = Color.LightGray
    qrOptions.ShowText = False

    Using qrOptionsStream As New FileStream(Path.Combine(outDir, "barcode_symbology_qr_code.png"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write)
        Using qrOptionsGenerator As New BarcodeGenerator(qrOptions)
            Dim image = qrOptionsGenerator.ExportToImage("https://www.devexpress.com", DXImageFormat.Png)
            image.Save(qrOptionsStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
        End Using
    End Using
End Using

Use BarcodeGenerator.ExportToImage(Byte[], DXImageFormat) when the symbology requires binary input.

Export Barcodes to PDF

Use the BarcodeGenerator.ExportToPdf method to generate PDF output. This method writes PDF content to a stream.

C#

using DevExpress.Docs.Barcode;
using DevExpress.Drawing;
using System.Drawing;

using var fileStream = new FileStream("logo.png", FileMode.Open);

var qrOptions = new QRCodeOptions();
qrOptions.Logo = DXImage.FromStream(fileStream);
qrOptions.Version = QRCodeVersion.Version10;
qrOptions.ModuleSize = 40;
qrOptions.BackColor = Color.LightGray;
qrOptions.ShowText = false;

using var qrOptionsStream = new FileStream(Path.Combine(outDir, "barcode_symbology_qr_code.pdf"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
using var qrOptionsGenerator = new BarcodeGenerator(qrOptions);
qrOptionsGenerator.ExportToPdf("https://www.devexpress.com", qrOptionsStream);

VB.NET

Import DevExpress.Docs.Barcode
Import DevExpress.Drawing
Import System.Drawing

Using fileStream As New FileStream("logo.png", FileMode.Open)
    Dim qrOptions As New QRCodeOptions()
    qrOptions.Logo = DXImage.FromStream(fileStream)
    qrOptions.Version = QRCodeVersion.Version10
    qrOptions.ModuleSize = 40
    qrOptions.BackColor = Color.LightGray
    qrOptions.ShowText = False

    Using qrOptionsStream As New FileStream(Path.Combine(outDir, "barcode_symbology_qr_code.pdf"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write)
        Using qrOptionsGenerator As New BarcodeGenerator(qrOptions)
            qrOptionsGenerator.ExportToPdf("https://www.devexpress.com", qrOptionsStream)
        End Using
    End Using
End Using

Use the BarcodeGenerator.ExportToPdf(Byte[], Stream) method if you work with raw binary data.

Specify Character Encoding

Use an Encoding object when the text requires a specific encoding. These overloads that use the Encoding object are available for the ExportToImage and ExportToPdf methods.

The following code snippet exports text with UTF-8 encoding:

C#

using DevExpress.Docs.Barcode;
using DevExpress.Drawing;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;

using var fileStream = new FileStream("logo.png", FileMode.Open);

var qrOptions = new QRCodeOptions();
qrOptions.Logo = DXImage.FromStream(fileStream);
qrOptions.Version = QRCodeVersion.Version10;
qrOptions.ModuleSize = 40;
qrOptions.BackColor = Color.LightGray;
qrOptions.ShowText = false;

using var qrOptionsStream = new FileStream(Path.Combine(outDir, "barcode_symbology_qr_code.pdf"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
using var qrOptionsGenerator = new BarcodeGenerator(qrOptions);
qrOptionsGenerator.Export("https://www.devexpress.com", Encoding.UTF8, qrOptionsStream);

VB.NET

Import DevExpress.Docs.Barcode
Import DevExpress.Drawing
Import System.Drawing
Import System.Text

Using fileStream As New FileStream("logo.png", FileMode.Open)
    Dim qrOptions As New QRCodeOptions()
    qrOptions.Logo = DXImage.FromStream(fileStream)
    qrOptions.Version = QRCodeVersion.Version10
    qrOptions.ModuleSize = 40
    qrOptions.BackColor = Color.LightGray
    qrOptions.ShowText = False

    Using qrOptionsStream As New FileStream(Path.Combine(outDir, "barcode_symbology_qr_code.pdf"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write)
        Using qrOptionsGenerator As New BarcodeGenerator(qrOptions)
            qrOptionsGenerator.Export("https://www.devexpress.com", Encoding.UTF8, qrOptionsStream)
        End Using
    End Using
End Using

Note

Ensure that the selected barcode symbology supports characters in the encoded text.