The symbol comprises the following elements:

• Leading quiet zone

• Postal Code, containing 4 numbers and two characters (fixed length)

• House/Postal Box/Callnumber, containing a maximum of 5 characters (variable length)

• Separation Sign, the "X" character used to separate the house number from the appendage.

• House Number Appendage, containing a maximum of 6 characters (variable length)

• Trailing quiet zone

The following example illustrates KIX Code construction.

The following example illustrates how mailing data is encoded into the KIX symbol:

Address:  Havendijk 156 huis, 1230  AA POTSDAM

Contents of the KIX for this address:  1230AA156XHUIS

Resulting barcode:  

The data characters represent sorting rules and other information. Each character is made up of four separate bars. The term "4-state" is derived from the fact that each bar in this symbology is in one of four states. The names of the four states are as follows:

• T (tracker)

• D (tracker, descender)

• A (tracker, ascender)

• H (tracker, ascender, descender)

These are illustrated in the following diagram.

KIX Code requires a quiet zone space of at least 2 mm on all sides.

This symbology supports the following alphanumeric characters:

• All numeric digits (0-9)

• All uppercase letters (A-Z)

The density for this symbology is 20 to 24 bars per 25.4 mm.