Massachusetts Driver License & ID Card PDF417 API

Reading Massachusetts Card Barcodes in Real Workflows

Massachusetts venues near universities see many out-of-state licenses and state IDs, and hospitals register large patient volumes. Staff need one flow for every US card. PDF417 error correction recovers some damage, but an application should never invent identity values when the barcode cannot be decoded.

One API for Massachusetts Licenses and ID Cards

Massachusetts cards are issued by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV). Licenses and identification cards carry the same AAMVA DL/ID PDF417 barcode on the back. Send the back image to the StructOCR PDF417 API: it decodes the barcode deterministically, normalizes the jurisdiction to MA, and returns document_kind as driver_license or id_card. Test a non-sensitive sample in the free PDF417 scanner. For the printed front of the card, use the Driver License OCR API.

Where This Workflow Fits

• Campus-area bar entry: Pre-fill names, dates, and address for campus-area bar entry and keep final confirmation in your application.
• Hospital patient registration: Accept both Massachusetts licenses and state ID cards, and use document_kind where only a license is acceptable.
• Dispensary check-in: Send unreadable Massachusetts barcodes to a retake or manual review step instead of saving partial identity data.

Decode a Massachusetts Card Back

Upload a JPG, PNG, or WebP image of the full card back. Move out of direct light or tilt the card slightly to remove glare, then upload the original camera photo.

Prerequisite: A server-side StructOCR API key and a clear image of the complete card back

curl -X POST https://api.structocr.com/v1/driver-license-pdf417 \
  -H "x-api-key: $STRUCTOCR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@massachusetts-card-back.jpg"

Illustrative Massachusetts ID Card Response

This response uses wholly fictional data to show a MA identification card. A license returns document_kind driver_license and its class fields.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "type": "drivers_license",
    "document_kind": "id_card",
    "source": "pdf417",
    "country_code": "USA",
    "region": "MA",
    "document_number": "SAMPLE1234",
    "surname": "SAMPLE",
    "given_names": "ALEX MORGAN",
    "first_name": "ALEX",
    "middle_name": "MORGAN",
    "sex": "X",
    "date_of_birth": "1990-01-15",
    "date_of_issue": "2025-01-15",
    "date_of_expiry": "2030-01-15",
    "address": "100 EXAMPLE AVE",
    "city": "SAMPLE CITY",
    "postal_code": "00000",
    "vehicle_class": null,
    "restrictions": null,
    "endorsements": null,
    "document_discriminator": "SAMPLE-DISCRIMINATOR",
    "issuer_identification_number": null,
    "aamva_version": 10,
    "jurisdiction_version": 0
  }
}