Postal · server-powered
Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) generator.
Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) is the customer barcode on UK letters: every character becomes four bars whose ascenders and descenders, rather than widths, carry the data. It encodes a UK postcode plus the two-character delivery point suffix that identifies one specific letterbox, which is how sorting machines route a letter down to a single address. Type the code below and Plume renders it live, with free PNG and vector SVG downloads and no sign-up.
UK postcode + delivery point.
Standards-based quiet zones are always on. For production packaging, verify a printed sample with a barcode verifier.
Preview
Sample: type to make it yours- Renders on our servers, the one Plume tool that does.
- We keep the code type and content length, never what you encode.
- Free SVG vector + up to 600 DPI PNG, commercial use allowed.
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Valid Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) input
Valid input is capital letters A to Z and digits 0 to 9, nothing else: no spaces, no hyphens, no lowercase. In real mail use the content is a UK postcode with its internal space removed, followed immediately by the delivery point suffix, so LE2 8HS with suffix 9Z becomes LE28HS9Z. Enter only these data characters; the generator computes the checksum character and adds the start and stop bars itself.
The generator does not fix your casing or strip separators for you. It rejects anything outside the 36-character alphabet with a plain error. Length is not restricted to postcode size, so you can encode longer uppercase alphanumeric strings, but Royal Mail equipment expects the postcode plus suffix form.
Working sample: LE28HS9Z The placeholder LE28HS9Z is postcode LE2 8HS joined to delivery point suffix 9Z with the space removed.
Where Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) is used
- Business Reply and Freepost response envelopes, which still carry RM4SCC
- Regenerating legacy Cleanmail-era mailing artwork
- Testing sorting or address-verification software with genuine 4-state input
- Reference symbols for documentation on postal barcode formats
Common errors and how to fix them
- RM4SCC must contain only capital letters and digits
- Remove spaces and hyphens and type every letter as a capital before encoding. A postcode is entered with its space deleted and the suffix appended, and the tool will not uppercase the input on your behalf.
- Enter the content to encode.
- The input box was empty. Paste the postcode and delivery point suffix as one unbroken string and the preview updates on its own.
Size and printing
RM4SCC is a linear symbol in this tool, so the bar height presets (8 to 25 mm) and the optional text line under the bars stay available. Module width in millimeters sets the bar pitch; 0.5 mm is a sensible middle of the offered 0.25 to 1.0 mm range. Because a reader has to tell trackers, ascenders and descenders apart, render at 300 or 600 DPI for print so the short center bars stay crisp, or download the SVG and scale it losslessly inside your artwork.
Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) questions
What is an RM4SCC barcode used for?
Routing UK letters. Royal Mail sorting machines read the postcode and delivery point suffix straight from the bar shapes, so mail is machine sorted down to an individual address without reading the printed address block.
What characters does RM4SCC allow?
Capital A to Z and digits 0 to 9, a 36-character alphabet. The start bar, stop bar and checksum character are appended automatically by the generator, so you never type them.
Is RM4SCC still in use on UK mail?
Yes. Royal Mail's bulk mail discounts moved to the newer Mailmark barcodes. RM4SCC still appears on Royal Mail response services artwork such as Business Reply and Freepost envelopes, and plenty of installed mail software still emits it.
What is the difference between RM4SCC and KIX?
Dutch KIX borrowed the same 4-state alphabet from RM4SCC but omits the start bar, stop bar and checksum, so an RM4SCC symbol for the same text is six bars longer and self-checking.