Which is better: Direct Thermal or Thermal Transfer Printing?

Direct Thermal or Thermal Transfer?

If you are looking for a new barcode or label printer, you may have come across some terms that are unfamiliar. Direct thermal vs. thermal transfer printing, for example. Unless you are looking for a laser printer, barcode printers and label printers feature two kinds of printing technologies: direct thermal and thermal transfer. Both have pros and cons that should be considered and evaluated to see how they meet your particular needs.

Direct Thermal Printers

Direct thermal labels do exactly what the name implies. They use heat (hence the thermal) in the print head to cause a reaction “directly” on the label paper. The paper has a coating that when heated causes the paper to darken. As such, you will not be able to do any kind of color printing using direct thermal. However, direct thermal does not require a ribbon which will save you money.

The main downside for direct thermal printing is that the labels will not last the test of time. Over time, the labels will start to darken and will eventually become unreadable. This label cannot be exposed to heat or direct sunlight or the rate at which the labels will taken will increase significantly.

Our customer's favorite option for direct thermal printers is the Dymo LabelWriter Series of printers. If you need your labels to last more than six months, you should consider a thermal transfer printer.

Thermal Transfer Printers

Like Direct Thermal printing, Thermal Transfer also uses heat to produce the labels, as the name implies. However, unlike Direct Thermal printing, the heat doesn’t come into contact with the label. The heat in the print head causes the resin of a ribbon to form a high quality image to transfer itself to the label.

Because the image is transferred onto the label, the image is more crisp and of higher quality. However, keep in mind that you’re also going to be spending more money on ribbons.

For more information or to look at our selection of Zebra printers for thermal and direct thermal printing, visit us at LabelValue.com.