[4] About 80% of the world's barium sulfate production, mostly purified mineral, is consumed as a component of oil well drilling fluid.

Barium sulfate in suspension is often used medically as a radiocontrast agent for X-ray imaging and other diagnostic procedures.

It is administered orally, or by enema, as a suspension of fine particles in a thick milk-like solution (often with sweetening and flavoring agents added).

In oil paint, barium sulfate is almost transparent[citation needed], and is used as a filler or to modify consistency.

[6] Researchers used it as an ingredient in paint that reflects 98.1% of solar radiation, allowing surfaces to which it has been applied to stay cooler in sunlit conditions.

[10] Barium sulfate is commonly used as a filler for plastics to increase the density of the polymer in vibrational mass damping applications.

[11] In cases where machinability and weight are a concern, composites with high mass fraction (70–80%) of barium sulfate may be preferred to the more commonly used steel shields.

[12] Barium sulfate can also be used to enhance the material properties of HDPE,[13] although typically in relatively low concentrations, and often in combination with other fillers like calcium carbonate or titanium oxide.

Barium sulfate added to the mixture binds with these particles, making them heavier so they fall to the bottom, leaving a clearer solution.

[14] Barium sulfate is used as a catalyst support when selectively hydrogenating functional groups that are sensitive to overreduction.

As barium sulfate has a high melting point and is insoluble in water, it is used as a release material in casting of copper anode plates.

Barium sulfate is sometimes used, besides polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), to coat the interior of integrating spheres due to the high reflectance of the material and near Lambertian characteristics.

Untreated raw materials such as natural baryte formed under hydrothermal conditions may contain many impurities, a.o., quartz, or even amorphous silica.

During the early part of the 20th century, during the Japanese colonization period, hokutolite was found to exist naturally in the Beitou hot-springs area near Taipei City, Taiwan.