Barcode Generator

Choose a barcode type from the list, type the number or text, and the preview redraws while you type. This barcode generator shows the real printed size under the preview in millimetres and inches, so you know exactly how big the label will be before you download anything.

Twenty-one types are built in and grouped the way people look for them: Retail (EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, ISBN, ISSN, GS1 DataBar), Industrial (Code 128, Code 39, Code 39 Extended, Code 93), Logistics (GS1-128, ITF-14, Interleaved 2 of 5), 2D codes (QR Code, Data Matrix, PDF417, Aztec) and Other (Codabar, MSI Plessey, Pharmacode). When you pick a type, the data box fills with a valid sample and a short hint tells you what that type accepts.

The bars are drawn by bwip-js, the JavaScript version of Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript, a long-standing open-source engine that follows the published symbology rules. It adds check digits for you and, when the data does not fit the chosen type, the preview shows the reason in plain words instead of a broken image.

A barcode is a way to write data so that a machine can read it in a fraction of a second. A linear (1D) barcode stores it as a row of dark bars and light spaces of different widths. The scanner sweeps a line of light across the bars, measures the widths and turns them back into digits or letters. The numbers printed under the bars are the same data in human-readable form, so a person can type it in when a label is damaged.

A 2D code, such as QR Code or Data Matrix, stores data in a grid of small squares instead of a single row. It holds much more in the same space and can be read in any direction, but it needs a camera or an image scanner rather than a simple laser scanner. Most phones read 2D codes with the normal camera app; many older shop scanners read only 1D barcodes.

If the code goes on a product sold in shops, the shop decides: retailers in most countries expect EAN-13, stores in the USA and Canada usually expect UPC-A, books carry an ISBN barcode and magazines an ISSN barcode. Ask your retailer or distributor if you are not sure, because a different type will simply be refused by their system.

If the code is for your own use, such as stock, tools, files, samples or tickets, you are free to choose, and a barcode generator 128 setting is the safe default: Code 128 takes letters and numbers, it is compact and almost every scanner reads it. Choose Code 39 only when an older system asks for it, and a 2D code when you need to store a lot of text or want phones to read it.

If the code goes on cartons and pallets in a supply chain, look at ITF-14 for outer cases and GS1-128 when you must add a batch number, an expiry date or a weight. Your logistics partner or customer will usually send a label specification; follow it exactly.

A barcode generator for products makes the picture of the code. It does not make the number official. The digits inside an EAN-13 or UPC-A code are a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), and those numbers are licensed to companies by GS1, the not-for-profit body that runs the system, through its member organisation in each country. No barcode generator can issue official product numbers, and that includes this one.

Drawing the image here is free and has no limit. If you already have numbers from GS1, type them in and you get a correct, scannable barcode at the size you choose. If you do not have numbers yet and want to sell through retail stores or large online marketplaces, apply to GS1 in your country first. Numbers bought from unofficial resellers are often rejected because the company prefix behind them is registered to someone else.

For products that never leave your own shop, such as homemade goods, a market stall or an internal catalogue, many small sellers use their own Code 128 numbers instead. That works with your own scanner and till system, but those codes will not be recognised anywhere else.

People who search for a barcode generator online EAN 13 tool usually need one thing: a correct retail code from a number they already have. Choose EAN-13, type the first 12 digits and the tool adds the 13th, the check digit. If you type all 13 digits, the last one is checked, and a wrong check digit is reported instead of being silently fixed, which protects you from a typing mistake on thousands of packs.

The first digits of an EAN-13 are the GS1 prefix. They show which GS1 member organisation issued the number, not the country where the product was made. Then come your company number and the item number, followed by the check digit. The digits under the bars are printed in the standard groups, with the first digit outside the bars on the left.

The usual full size of an EAN-13 uses a bar width of 0.33 mm, which is the setting marked standard in the Bar width list, with bars about 23 mm high. Retailers generally accept codes from 80% to 200% of that size, which matches roughly 0.26 mm to 0.66 mm. Avoid cutting the bar height to save space; short bars are a common reason for codes that will not scan at the checkout.

EAN-8 works the same way for tiny packs with only 7 digits plus the check digit, and UPC-A takes 11 digits plus the check digit. UPC-E is a shortened UPC for small packs; type the 7 digits starting with 0 or 1 that the hint describes.

Code 128 is the general-purpose choice for anything that is not a retail product. It can hold capital and small letters, digits and punctuation, and it packs pairs of digits into a single symbol, so long numbers stay short. As a barcode generator 128 tool, this page computes the required check symbol for you and switches between the internal character sets automatically, so you only type the text you want.

GS1-128 is Code 128 carrying GS1 data, and it sits in the Logistics group. You write the data with application identifiers in brackets: (01) for the 14-digit GTIN, (17) for the expiry or use-by date written as YYMMDD and (10) for the batch or lot number. The sample in the data box shows the pattern. The brackets are printed in the text under the bars but are not encoded as characters, which is what GS1 scanners expect.

Keep Code 128 data short when the label is small. Every extra character makes the code wider at the same bar width. If you need a long serial number on a narrow label, try a smaller bar width, or move to Data Matrix, which stores the same text in a much smaller square.

A barcode generator for inventory saves hours of typing. Give every item, shelf, bin, tool or file a short unique code, print it once and scan it whenever stock moves. Most stock and asset apps can read Code 128 from a phone camera or a cheap USB scanner, and a USB scanner simply types the code into whatever field has the cursor, followed by Enter.

Plan the codes before you print. A simple pattern such as a location letter and a number (A-0012, B-0450) or a prefix for the kind of item (TOOL-0031) is easier to sort than random numbers. Avoid characters that look alike on the printed text, such as O and 0 or I and 1, and do not reuse a code for a different item later.

Use the caption line for the item name or the shelf location so people can read the label without a scanner. For shelf edges, a bar height of 8 to 12 mm is usually enough; for bins seen from a distance, choose a larger bar width. For many labels, use bulk mode and print a label sheet, described below.

With Show the numbers under the bars switched on, the data is printed as human-readable text below a 1D barcode. Text size sets its height in millimetres, from 1.5 to 10 mm; 3 mm suits most labels. For EAN and UPC the digits follow the standard layout; for other types the text is centred under the bars.

Caption above (optional) adds one bold line on top of the bars, up to 60 characters. It is the place for a product name, a price, a size or a shelf location. A barcode generator with text above and below means one image carries everything a person and a scanner need, so you do not have to add the words later in another program.

The caption is drawn in the same colour as the bars, at a size slightly larger than the text below. It is part of the image, not part of the encoded data: the scanner still reads only the bars. 2D codes do not show the data as text, but you can still add a caption above them.

Bar width is the X dimension, the width of the narrowest bar. Every other bar and space is a whole multiple of it, so it sets the size of the whole code. The list offers 0.19 mm (small), 0.25 mm, 0.33 mm (standard), 0.5 mm, 0.66 mm (large) and 1 mm. Narrower bars make a smaller code but need a sharper printer and a closer scanner.

Height sets the bar height in millimetres, from 3 to 150 mm, for 1D barcodes. Taller bars are easier to scan because the scanner line can cross them at an angle. As a rule, keep the bars at least 15% of the code width, or at least 6 mm, whichever is more, unless a specification says otherwise.

For 2D codes the height box is hidden, because the code is square or a fixed rectangle. The bar width then sets the size of each small square, called a module. The printed size line under the preview always shows the final width and height, including the quiet zone and the caption.

A check digit is the last digit of codes such as EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, ITF-14 and the GTIN inside GS1 data. It is calculated from the other digits, so a scanner can tell when a digit was misread. You can leave it out and the tool works it out for you. Code 128 also carries a hidden check symbol, which is always added.

When the data does not fit the chosen type, the preview area shows a short message in red instead of the barcode. The message comes from the engine and names the problem, for example that the type takes digits only, that the length is wrong or that a check digit does not match. Change the data, or pick a type that accepts it, and the preview comes back at once.

If you came looking for a barcode generator free SVG download, press the SVG button: you get a vector file that stays sharp at any size, because the bars are stored as shapes rather than pixels. The file carries its real width and height in millimetres, so a design program places it at the right size. There is no watermark, no account and no limit on how many you make.

PNG is the choice when a program does not accept SVG. Pick the resolution under PNG resolution: 300 DPI for normal office printing, 600 DPI (the default) for most labels, and 1200 DPI for very small bars or high-quality print. The image is sized so that it prints at the real size shown under the preview when the program uses that DPI.

Why does DPI matter? At 300 DPI one pixel is about 0.085 mm wide, so a 0.33 mm bar is not a whole number of pixels and edges can blur when the image is scaled. At 600 or 1200 DPI the error is much smaller. If your printing company asks for artwork, send the SVG and the problem disappears. File names follow the data you type, so a code for ABC-12345 is saved as ABC-12345.png.

A barcode generator to PDF is the easiest route to correct printing. The PDF button saves a page exactly as large as the barcode, with the code placed on it as a 600 DPI image. Open it and print at 100% or Actual size, not Fit to page, and the label comes out at the printed size the tool showed you.

When you use the barcode generator in bulk, the PDF becomes a label sheet. Choose A4 or Letter under Paper, set the number of columns (1 to 8) and rows (1 to 20), and tick Cutting lines if you want a thin grey outline around each label. The page keeps an 8 mm margin, divides the rest into equal cells and centres one barcode in each cell, adding pages as needed.

Each barcode is placed at its real size when it fits in its cell. If it is larger than the cell, it is scaled down to fit, which shrinks the bars too. The sheet uses its own grid, so it may not line up exactly with a brand of pre-cut label paper: print one page on plain paper and hold it over the label sheet before you use the real stock. If you need to join the sheets with other pages, use Merge PDF afterwards.

Switch How many to Many (bulk) and the data box becomes a list with one barcode per line. To add a caption to a line, put it after a comma or a tab, for example a product name or a price, which gives you a barcode generator with text on every label. Lines without a caption use the Caption above setting if you filled it in. The counter under the list shows how many barcodes will be made; up to 5,000 lines are used.

You can also press CSV / Excel and load a CSV, TXT or XLSX file. For an Excel workbook the first visible sheet is read, with the first column as the barcode data and the second column as the caption. A CSV or text file is read line by line in the same way. The file is read in your browser and never sent anywhere.

Using a barcode generator in bulk is safest when you check the list first. Lines that do not fit the type are skipped instead of stopping the whole run, and the message under the button names the skipped values and the reason. For GS1-128 the whole line is used as data, because the commas and brackets belong to the GS1 string.

Choose the output under Download as: Label sheet (PDF) for printing, PNG files (ZIP) or SVG files (ZIP) for importing into label software or a design program. Each file in the ZIP is named after its data, with -2, -3 added when a value repeats. If you only have the data in a PDF report, convert it first with PDF to Excel; if you want the finished list as a document, CSV to PDF makes a printable table.

Colours lets you pick the bar colour and the background colour. Scanners read the contrast between dark bars and a light background, so keep the bars dark (black, dark blue, dark green, dark brown) and the background light. Red bars are a well-known trap: many laser scanners use red light, and red bars on white look like no bars at all. Light bars on a dark background are also unreadable by many scanners.

Transparent background removes the background colour from the PNG and SVG, which helps when the code sits on coloured packaging artwork. The chequered pattern in the preview shows which parts are transparent. Make sure what is printed behind the code is light and plain.

Rotation turns the whole code by 0°, 90°, 180° or 270°, text and caption included, which is handy for labels that run up the side of a box. Quiet zone keeps a white margin around the code. Scanners need that margin to find where the code starts and ends; turn it off only when you will place the code in a layout that already leaves enough clear space.

The 2D codes group holds QR Code, Data Matrix, PDF417 and Aztec. They store far more than a 1D barcode and are read by cameras and image scanners. QR Code is the one phones read out of the box; for links, Wi-Fi details and contact cards with a logo, colours and a frame, the QR Code Generator has many more design options.

Data Matrix is the common choice for small parts, electronics and medicine packs, because it stores a serial number in a square only a few millimetres wide. PDF417 is a stacked rectangle used on ID cards, boarding passes and shipping labels. Aztec reads well when very small or shown on a screen, which is why transport tickets use it.

For 2D codes, the bar width sets the size of each small square and the height and numbers-under-bars options are hidden. A module of 0.33 mm to 0.5 mm suits most uses; go smaller only with a sharp printer and a good scanner.

Every barcode is drawn in your browser. The data you type, the lists you paste and the CSV or Excel files you load are not uploaded to any server, and the downloads are made on your device. That matters when the data is a list of product numbers, serial numbers or customer references you would rather keep private.

Your settings, including the last data you typed, are remembered in this browser so the tool opens the way you left it. Clearing the site data in your browser removes them.

Need the codes in a different shape? Use SVG to PNG to turn a vector file into an image at another size, Change DPI to set the resolution stored in a PNG, or Resize Image to fit a fixed pixel size. To print a price list next to the barcodes, Excel to PDF turns your spreadsheet into a document, and Add Text to Image puts extra words on an existing label picture.