Barcode generator

Choosing the right barcode

The format is not a style choice. It decides what characters the code can hold, how long it may be, and which scanners will read it.

If you are labelling something for your own use — stock, equipment, files, event passes — Code 128 is almost always the answer. It takes letters as well as digits, has no fixed length, and packs more into less width than Code 39.

Retail numbers are issued, not invented

This is the mistake that costs money. EAN-13, EAN-8 and UPC-A numbers identify a product globally, and they are allocated by GS1, the organisation that runs the system, through its national member bodies. A number you made up may already belong to a real product, and a retailer scanning it will see the wrong item. Generating the image is free; the right to a number is not.

The leading digits say where the number was issued — 45 and 49 for Japan, 00–13 for the United States and Canada, 30–37 for France. The final digit is a check digit calculated from the ones before it, and this generator works it out for you, so a valid number will render and a mistyped one will be rejected rather than silently printed.

Why a printed barcode fails to scan

• The quiet zone was trimmed. The blank margin on each side is part of the code, not packaging around it. An EAN-13 wants roughly ten times the narrow-bar width clear on each side. Cropping flush to the bars is the most common reason a professionally printed label will not read.
• The bars are too fine for the printer. Shrinking a barcode reduces the narrow-bar width until ink spread closes the gaps. If it must be small, print a proof and scan it before committing.
• It was stretched unevenly. Scale width and height together. Distorting the width changes the ratios the decoder measures.
• Colour. Red bars are close to invisible to a red-light laser scanner, which is still what most retail lanes use. Black on white, or at least a dark colour on a light one. Never light on dark.
• The height was cut down. Height is what gives a scanner room to cross all the bars at an angle. A very short barcode demands a near-perfect sweep.
• The surface. Gloss, shrink wrap and curved bottles all scatter the beam. Matte labels read better, and a barcode should run around a curve, not across it.

PNG or SVG

Download SVG for anything that will be printed. It is drawn from coordinates rather than pixels, so it stays exact at any size and a print shop can place it without quality loss. Use PNG for screens, documents and slides. Never enlarge a PNG barcode afterwards: the bar edges blur, and blurred edges are exactly what a decoder cannot resolve.

Everything stays in your browser

Barcodes are rendered on your own device. Product numbers, order references and internal codes are not uploaded to us, because nothing you type here is sent anywhere. See our privacy policy, and the terms for the one rule that matters most: test a printed proof before you order a run.