Free Barcode Generator

UPC-A is the standard retail barcode in the United States and Canada. It encodes 12 digits: a company prefix and item number assigned by GS1, plus a final check digit. If you sell to US retailers or on most US marketplaces, choose UPC-A in the barcode generator. UPC-E is a shortened UPC-A for very small packs; it only works for numbers with enough zeros, and the barcode generator converts them for you. For GTIN forms, a fit check and batch export, use the UPC barcode generator.

EAN-13 is the international version with 13 digits, used across Europe, Asia and most of the world. Modern scanners in the US read EAN-13 as well, so many brands that sell globally use it. EAN-8 is a shorter version for packs that are too small for a full barcode. Books use an ISBN, which is an EAN-13 that starts with 978 or 979, often with a 5 digit price add-on.

Code 128 is not a retail product code. It can hold letters, numbers and symbols, which makes it a good fit for warehouse locations, serial numbers and internal inventory. A QR code holds a link or longer text, and it is the usual way to send shoppers from the package to a website, a video or a reorder page.

Outer cases and shipping cartons use ITF-14, which encodes a 14 digit GTIN. The first digit is the packaging indicator, so a case of 12 and a case of 24 of the same product get different numbers. ITF-14 is often printed straight onto corrugated board, which is why it comes with a thick bearer bar frame that protects the bars from uneven printing pressure.

GS1-128 carries more than a product number. Each piece of data starts with an Application Identifier in brackets, such as (01) for the GTIN, (17) for the expiry date and (10) for the batch. Type them in that form and the barcode generator checks the length, characters, dates and check digits of every field before it builds the label barcode.

Retail barcodes are printed at a magnification between 80% and 200% of the nominal size. At 100% a UPC-A barcode is about 37.3 mm (1.47 in) wide including its quiet zones and about 26 mm tall. Smaller than 80% and many scanners will struggle, so check the print size shown under the preview before you download from the barcode generator.

The quiet zone is the blank margin on the left and right of the bars. Never let text, artwork or the edge of a label cut into it. This barcode generator adds the quiet zone required by the GS1 specification automatically, so keep that white space when you place the barcode in your design.

Print dark bars on a light background. Black on white scans best, and dark blue or dark green on white usually works too. Red bars, and light bars on a dark background, often fail because many scanners use red light. If the barcode generator shows a low contrast warning, pick darker bars or a lighter background.

On press, ink spreads a little and every bar prints wider than drawn. Printers correct this with bar width reduction: each bar is made narrower in the file by a set amount, typically about 30 µm for offset, 50 µm for gravure and 100 µm for flexo. Ask your printer for the exact value and set it under Print settings. For the sharpest result, send the SVG, PDF or EPS file instead of a PNG.

A barcode generator turns a number into bars, but it cannot create a valid retail number. Product barcodes for stores must start with a GS1 company prefix that you license from GS1 or your local GS1 member organization. That prefix ties every product barcode to your brand.

Once you have a prefix, you assign the item numbers yourself, one for each product and size. Enter the full number into the free barcode generator above, choose UPC-A or EAN-13, and download the file. For internal uses like inventory and events you do not need GS1 numbers, and Code 128 or a QR code is usually the better choice.