The California DMV has begun issuing federally-compliant REAL ID driver’s licenses in place of standard driver’s licenses, which allow you to use your license for domestic travel and entry into federal and military buildings. You can choose to receive either a REAL ID or a standard driver's license—details are outlined below.
↓. This information is both incomplete and highly outdated. PDF417 barcodes are now mandatory on all state-issued ID/DL cards in the United States and they must comply with one of the published AAMVA design standards. States can no longer encrypt the information specified in the design standard, but they can (and many do) include other encrypted information within the barcode in addition to the required data fields. However, despite the fact that it presents quite erroneous data, the color map is still quite pretty If you’re going for style over substance, you can haz win.