Adults have mostly glossy black upperparts with bright red lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts.

Juveniles are much duller than adults, with a sooty-black head and chest and brownish olive upperparts.

The red rump and yellow underparts are paler, and the breast spot, belly band, and bill pattern are indistinct.

[7] Stripe-billed aracaris typically travel in groups of about six to 15 individuals that sometimes include other toucan species.

[7] The stripe-billed aracari's diet is mostly fruit but it also feeds on large insects, the eggs and nestlings of other birds, and other small vertebrates.

It mostly forages from the forest's mid level to the canopy but will feed on fruits in the understory.

The stripe-billed aracari's usual call is "a loud, arresting, high-pitched, and squeaky 'ksisik' or 'ksiyik!'.

"[6] The IUCN has assessed the stripe-billed aracari as being of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing.