Text and data

EAN-13 barcode generator

Thirteen digits, check digit calculated, print-ready.

On this device

Type the product number

Twelve digits and the check digit is calculated; thirteen and it is verified. Letters are refused, because an EAN has none.

Code 128 carries letters and digits, any length, and needs no registration — use it for anything of your own. EAN-13 and UPC-A are retail product codes and need a number issued to you; UPC-A is the North American one.

Any ASCII text — letters, digits, spaces and punctuation. Nothing is uploaded: the code is drawn on this device.

SizeCode 128 · medium
Size

The width of the narrowest bar, in pixels. Wider scans more reliably from further away and makes a larger file; the SVG is sharp at any size regardless.

Taller bars give a scanner more chances to find a clean line across the symbol, which is why retail barcodes are as tall as they are.

What this tool does, exactly

EAN-13 is the thirteen-digit retail code used on products everywhere outside North America, and read by every retail scanner inside it. Type the twelve digits you were issued and the thirteenth — the check digit — is worked out; type all thirteen and it is checked. The bars are drawn to the standard's proportions with the quiet zone included.

What the thirteen digits are
The first two or three digits are the GS1 prefix of the organisation that issued the number — 400 to 440 for Germany, 50 for the United Kingdom, 690 to 699 for China — which says where the company registered, not where the product was made. Then the company number and the product number, whose split varies by prefix, and last the check digit computed from the twelve before it. An EAN-13 beginning with 0 is a UPC-A.
Where the numbers come from
Your national GS1 member organisation issues the company prefix. A number you invent either collides with a real product or is refused by a retailer or marketplace that checks the registry, which the large ones do. This page draws any thirteen digits with a valid check digit, so use it with numbers issued to you; for internal labels, Code 128 needs no registration.
The check digit
Weights of one and three alternate across the first twelve digits, starting with one; the check digit brings the sum to a multiple of ten. Scanners recompute it on every read, which is why a damaged code fails to scan rather than scanning wrong. Type twelve digits and it is computed; type thirteen and the tool names the correct value if yours is not.
Printing
The nominal symbol is 37.29 mm by 25.93 mm at 100%, allowed between 80% and 200%. Below 80% retail scanners misread; the eleven-module quiet zone on the left and seven on the right must stay blank; and the picture must never be stretched in one direction, because the bar widths are the data. The SVG keeps the edges hard through any scaling.

About this tool

Can I make up an EAN for my product?

You can draw one, and you should not sell with it. The prefix names an issuing organisation and a company; an invented number collides or is refused. Marketplaces verify EANs against the GS1 registry. If you only need to label your own stock, Code 128 is the right barcode and needs no number from anyone.

EAN-13 or UPC-A?

The same code in two lengths. UPC-A is the twelve-digit North American form; an EAN-13 that starts with 0 is a UPC-A, and every retail scanner reads both. Sell in North America, and a UPC-A is what retailers expect; anywhere else, the EAN-13.

What is EAN-8?

A short eight-digit form for very small packaging, issued separately by GS1. This tool draws EAN-13 and UPC-A only; an EAN-8 is not a shortened EAN-13 and cannot be derived from one.

Why does my printed barcode not scan?

Too small, stretched, or trimmed: printed under 80% of the nominal size, scaled in one direction so the bar widths no longer mean what they say, or the blank margins cut off. Scale proportionally, keep the quiet zone that is in the file, print black on white, and use the SVG.

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