Free Barcode Generator

Which barcode to use

The right barcode depends on who scans it. Products sold in shops carry an EAN-13, or a UPC-A in the United States and Canada, because every checkout scanner in the world reads them and they hold the product's global trade item number, its GTIN. EAN-8 and UPC-E are shorter versions for packs too small for the full barcode, and UPC-E only works for UPC numbers with enough zeros to be compressed, which is why the generator shows you the full UPC-A number it stands for.

Cartons and pallets use different codes, because the scanners in warehouses read from further away and the data says more. ITF-14 is the classic barcode on corrugated cartons and holds the carton's own GTIN, printed with a thick bearer box around it so it survives rough cardboard. GS1-128 carries several pieces of data at once, such as the product number, the batch, the expiry date or the shipping container code (SSCC), each marked with a short number in brackets called an application identifier. For a whole pallet label, the SSCC label generator numbers the pallets from your GS1 company prefix and lays out the label with the addresses, the contents and the SSCC barcode.

Inside your own business you are free to choose. Code 128 is the usual choice for stock numbers, asset tags, shelf labels and order numbers, because it is compact, reads reliably and accepts letters, digits and punctuation. Code 39 is older and wider and only worth using when a system or scanner asks for it. When space is tight or you need more data, a 2D code holds much more: Data Matrix fits a serial number onto a part a few millimeters across, GS1 DataMatrix is the standard on medicines and medical devices, PDF417 appears on ID cards and shipping documents, and Aztec on tickets.

Product numbers: when you need GS1

The generator draws a correct barcode for any number you type, but it can't give you a product number. To sell through retailers or online marketplaces you normally need GTINs licensed from GS1, the not-for-profit organization that runs the numbering system, either through your national GS1 office or, in the United States, from GS1 US, which also sells single numbers to businesses with only a few products. Retailers check these numbers against GS1's registry, so numbers bought cheaply from resellers are often rejected.

If the barcode never leaves your business, you don't need GS1 at all. A workshop labeling its tools, a shop labeling its own shelves or a warehouse numbering its locations can use Code 128 with whatever numbering suits them, because only their own scanners will ever read those labels. The same is true for asset tags, library books and event tickets. Mixing the two worlds is where problems start: an internal number printed as an EAN-13 can clash with a real product's number at a checkout.

Check digits catch typing mistakes

The last digit of an EAN, UPC, ITF-14 or SSCC number is a check digit, worked out from all the digits before it. Scanners do the same sum when they read the barcode, so a misprinted or mistyped number is rejected rather than read as a different product. That is why you can type 12 digits for an EAN-13: the generator adds the thirteenth for you and tells you what it added. To work out or check the digit without making a barcode, for a single number or a whole list, use the check digit calculator.

If you type all thirteen digits and the last one doesn't match, the generator tells you which digit it should be and offers to correct it. A wrong check digit almost always means a mistake earlier in the number, so it is worth comparing the number with your records before accepting the fix. The same check applies inside GS1-128 and GS1 DataMatrix: the product number in (01), the shipping container code in (00) and location numbers in (410) or (414) are all checked, and dates in fields such as the expiry date (17) must be written as YYMMDD, so 261231 for 31 December 2026.

Size, quiet zones and printing

Barcode sizes are given by the width of the narrowest bar, called the module or X-dimension. Retail barcodes have a standard size, 100 percent, with a module of 0.33 mm, which makes an EAN-13 about 37 mm wide including its margins. Shops accept anything from 80 percent to 200 percent, so the size menu offers those steps for EAN and UPC and refuses to go smaller. Other barcodes have no fixed size: a third of a millimeter per module suits most scanners, and thermal label printers and fine laser printers can go smaller.

Every barcode also needs a quiet zone, the empty light margin before the first bar and after the last one, where the scanner finds where the code begins and ends. An EAN-13 needs eleven modules on the left and seven on the right, and Code 128 needs ten on each side. The downloads include the right quiet zones for each type, so keep text, borders and the edge of a colored background out of them on your label. Don't cut the bars short to save space either: lower bars make the barcode harder to scan at an angle.

Printers draw in dots, so the generator can snap the module width to a whole number of printer dots. That matters most on thermal printers with 203 dots per inch, where a module of 0.33 mm would be 2.6 dots and some bars would come out thicker than others. Choose your printer and the generator rounds to whole dots and shows the resulting size; for EAN and UPC it rounds up whenever the nearest dot would take the barcode below 80 percent, so a retail size never ends up too small. SVG and PDF downloads are vector files that stay sharp at any size, and PNG files are made at your printer's resolution.

Before you download, the page reads the exact file back twice, once at the size you'll print and once deliberately small and blurred, and compares it with what you entered. It also warns about light bars on a dark background, which most barcode scanners can't read, and about sizes below what retail allows. A clean result means the file is correct, not that every printer and label will reproduce it well, so print one test label and scan it with the scanner you'll use. For products sold in shops, some retailers ask for a verification report from your GS1 office.

Many barcodes from a list or spreadsheet

When you need a different barcode for every product, asset or shelf, switch the generator from One barcode to Many barcodes. The bulk barcode generator page explains how to prepare a spreadsheet for it. You can paste a list with one number per line, copy whole columns from Excel or Google Sheets and paste them in, or open a CSV or Excel file. For asset tags and location labels the generator can also number the codes for you: give it a prefix such as ASSET-, the first number, how many you need and how many digits, and it makes ASSET-0001, ASSET-0002 and onwards. With a GS1 company prefix the same works for product numbers, because the generator adds each check digit.

Every row is checked the same way as a single barcode. Missing check digits are added, so a column of twelve-digit numbers becomes a list of valid EAN-13 barcodes, and rows that can't become the barcode you chose are listed with their row number and the reason, so you can correct them in your spreadsheet. The first barcode of the list appears in the preview with its scan check, and the size, color and printer settings apply to every barcode in the list.

If you need the barcodes as files rather than labels, for packaging artwork, a product catalog or a print shop, the download buttons give you all of them at once: one ZIP file with an SVG, PDF or PNG file for each row, named after its value, and a file called codes.csv that lists which file belongs to which row together with the other columns of your list. Up to 500 barcodes go into one download, and you don't need an account for it.

Print on labels then opens the label editor with one label per row. If your spreadsheet has more columns, such as a product name or a price, you can put one of them on the label next to the barcode and add the others in the editor. The list stays in your browser on the way there: it isn't uploaded, and it never appears in a web address.

Printing barcodes on labels

When the barcode is ready, press Print on labels and choose where you'll print: address-size labels on Letter or A4 sheets for a home printer, or a thermal or DYMO label printer. The free label editor opens with your barcode on that label at the module width you chose, so a retail barcode stays at the size you set, and if it doesn't fit the editor makes it smaller and tells you whether it is still large enough to scan. You can then add a product name, a price or a logo before printing.

The label editor is free and runs in your browser. Without an account you can design, print and export single labels, and printing shows a short ad step first because the editor is ad-supported. Printing a whole list, whether it comes from Many barcodes on this page or from a spreadsheet you import in the editor, needs a free account, which includes five batch exports a month. The page on bulk barcode labels explains how batch printing works.