What is DPL?
DPL (Datamax Printer Language) is the command language of Datamax — later Datamax-O’Neil, now Honeywell — thermal printers, common in industrial and healthcare labeling. Like ZPL for Zebras and TSPL for TSC printers, DPL is how applications tell a Datamax printer what to draw.
Which “DPL” do you mean?
Section titled “Which “DPL” do you mean?”The acronym is overloaded. This page is about the printer language. It is not:
- Delphi Package Library (
.dplfiles from the Delphi programming environment) - Digital Property/Programming Language or other software DPLs
If your .dpl file came from a label system, warehouse, or printer configuration, it’s almost certainly Datamax Printer Language.
What it looks like
Section titled “What it looks like”\x02LD11191100801000025LabelZoom1e5504000000100012345678EDPL is terse: an STX control character starts a command, L enters label-formatting mode, numeric-prefixed records define text and barcode fields, E ends and prints. It’s noticeably less readable than ZPL or TSPL — one reason DPL labels are almost always generated by software, not written by hand.
Working with DPL files
Section titled “Working with DPL files”The LabelZoom conversion engine parses DPL natively — rendering DPL labels to images and PDF the same way it renders ZPL. The REST API accepts dpl as a source format today (e.g. POST /api/v2/convert/dpl/to/pdf); see Supported formats and the API quickstart. Dedicated web tools are rolling out. If you’re migrating Datamax labels to Zebra hardware or need DPL rendered for verification, contact us.
Related: What is ZPL? · What is EPL? · What is TSPL?