Zebra ZC300 Series Card Printers

The Zebra ZC300 is a flexible and secure direct-to-card printer designed for organisations that need professional card printing with simple operation, compact placement and strong everyday usability. It is suitable for identity cards, access control cards, membership cards, event cards, visitor cards, education cards, retail and hospitality cards, and other standard card issuance applications. Unlike the Zebra ZC10L, which is focused on oversized event badges and passes, the ZC300 is built for standard CR80 card printing. It supports edge-to-edge printing on standard CR80 media and can print full-colour or monochrome cards in single-sided or dual-sided configurations, depending on the selected model and options. This makes it a more general-purpose card printer for business, education, hospitality, retail and access control workflows. The ZC300 is positioned around simplicity. Zebra designed the printer to reduce many of the common pain points associated with card printing, including ribbon loading, card feeding, driver setup and printer status interpretation. The graphical colour LCD uses intuitive icons, animations and text-based messages to guide users through common tasks such as clearing jams, loading cards, loading ribbon or resolving printer issues. The printer is designed for plug-and-play deployment. Standard USB 2.0 and built-in 10/100 Ethernet make it suitable for both standalone card printing stations and shared networked environments. Optional 802.11ac Wi-Fi is available for deployments where cabling is impractical or where more flexible printer placement is required. The ZC300 uses dye-sublimation thermal transfer direct-to-card printing. It supports 300 dpi resolution, full-colour or monochrome printing and edge-to-edge output on standard CR80 cards. The specified image size is 1006 × 640 pixels, and the printer includes 2 GB flash memory. Typical print throughput is listed at up to 900 cards per hour for single-sided monochrome, 200 cards per hour for single-sided YMCKO, 140 cards per hour for dual-sided YMCKOK and 450 cards per hour for dual-sided monochrome, based on batch printing over USB. The printer supports both single-sided and dual-sided printing, with the dual-sided card flipper listed as a field-upgradeable option. A 10-card reject bin is standard with dual-sided printers. This allows organisations to start with the configuration they need and expand to dual-sided card printing later if the application evolves. Card handling is designed for ease of use. The ZC300 includes a 100-card auto-adjusting input hopper and a 100-card output hopper for 30 mil cards. The card feeder automatically adjusts to different card thicknesses, reducing the need for manual adjustment when switching between card stocks. Manual card feeding is also supported, with an LED bezel guiding the user through the process. The redesigned output hopper uses saloon-style output doors, allowing users to remove one card or the full card stack without opening a traditional hopper cover. This improves convenience in reception, office, education or retail environments where staff may need to issue cards throughout the day. Ribbon replacement is also simplified. ZC300 ribbons are supplied in simple-to-load recyclable cartridges, and Zebra intelligent technology automatically detects and authenticates compatible ribbons. Embedded smart chips help users know when ribbon replacement is required. The supplied material notes that the ZC300 is designed to work only with genuine Zebra ribbons. Ribbon options include YMCKO, YMCKOK, half-panel colour ribbons, KrO, KdO and monochrome ribbons in black, white, red, blue, gold and silver, with image counts depending on ribbon type. Cleaning rollers are included with each ribbon, and cleaning kits are available with isopropyl alcohol cleaning cards. The ZC300 supports CR80 ISO 7810 ID-1 cards and CR79 cards, with card thickness from 10 to 40 mil. Supported card materials include PVC and PVC composite, as well as adhesive-back and writable-back cards. The supplied note recommends spot colour or monochrome printing only on cards thicker than 20 mil and on CR79 cards. Encoding support includes a magnetic stripe encoder option compliant with ISO 7811. It supports new and pre-encoded cards, tracks 1, 2 and 3, high and low coercivity, and stripe-down / stripe-up handling with dual-sided printers. The marketing text refers to magnetic stripe and contactless cards, but the supplied technical specification details magnetic stripe encoding only, so any contactless or smart-card encoding workflow should be confirmed before final configuration. Security is an important part of the ZC300 positioning. Standard features include printer-host authentication and data encryption. The supplied material highlights AES data encryption for protecting sensitive information during printing, including account numbers. A printer cover lock and lockable enclosure are available to help prevent theft of card stock and rejected cards in public-facing areas. A Kensington secure lock slot is also included. The ZC300 is designed to fit into many office and customer-facing environments. The single-sided model measures 258 mm high, 157 mm wide and 383 mm deep, with a weight of 4.0 kg. The dual-sided model measures 258 mm high, 157 mm wide and 468 mm deep, with a weight of 4.4 kg. Its compact footprint and slim profile make it suitable for counters, reception desks, enrolment points, card issuance desks and other limited-space locations. The printer supports a broad range of operating environments. Operating temperature is 15°C to 35°C, with operating humidity from 20% to 80% non-condensing. Storage temperature is -5°C to 70°C. Media storage recommendations are 5°C to 25°C and 35% to 65% non-condensing humidity. Electrical input is auto-switching single-phase AC power. Driver and software support includes Microsoft Windows drivers, with the supplied material listing Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8 / 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. Linux Ubuntu 16.x and Apple macOS 10.13.x are also listed. The Windows driver includes status indicators, black panel extraction controls, image preview, configuration controls and advanced security and diagnostics settings. The ZC300 can be used with Zebra card design and issuance workflows. The graphical driver interface helps operators see a visual representation of the card and understand how settings affect the output, reducing the need for repeated test card printing. Multi-language support is available on the LCD display and in the driver, including English, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Arabic. The main application areas include general access control, employee badges, education ID and access cards, retail and hospitality membership cards, event and season passes, guest and passenger cards, and other standard card programmes. The ZC300 is suitable where organisations need a balance of card quality, security, compact size and ease of use. Overall, the Zebra ZC300 is a strong choice for organisations that want flexible standard card printing with simple operation and built-in security. Its strongest value lies in its 300 dpi edge-to-edge card printing, single- or dual-sided flexibility, USB / Ethernet standard connectivity, optional Wi-Fi, simplified ribbon and card handling, magnetic stripe encoding option, compact design and security features for customer-facing or access-controlled environments.

Datasheet

Product Features

• Connection: USB, Ethernet, WIFI
• Resolution: 300 dpi

Product Identifiers

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