Barcode generator

Type a value, pick a symbology, and the barcode is drawn as you type. The tool covers Code 128, Code 39, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, ITF-14, ITF, MSI, Codabar and Pharmacode. Settings let you change the bar width, the height, and whether the value is printed under the bars. You can download the result as a PNG or an SVG, or copy the image to your clipboard where the browser supports it.

Which format should I pick?

Code 128 is the usual answer for internal labels, since it encodes any ASCII text, including letters, digits and punctuation. Code 39 is more limited (uppercase letters, digits and a few symbols) but older scanners handle it well. The retail formats are fixed-length numbers: EAN-13 for most products sold outside North America, UPC-A for North America, EAN-8 for small packaging, and ITF-14 for shipping cartons. Pharmacode holds a plain number between 3 and 131070 and is used on pharmaceutical packaging. If a value doesn’t fit the rules of the format you picked, the tool says so instead of drawing something a scanner would misread.

What happens to the check digit?

EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and ITF-14 all end in a check digit that a scanner uses to catch a misread. You can type the full number and the tool verifies that last digit, or leave it off and the tool works it out and tells you it did. The calculation is the GS1 mod-10 method: weight the digits 3 and 1 alternating from the right, add them up, and take the difference to the next multiple of ten. Typing 590123412345 as an EAN-13 gives 5901234123457. If you supply all 13 digits and the last one is wrong, the barcode is rejected rather than drawn with a bad digit.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The barcode is drawn in your browser as an SVG, and the PNG download is made by painting that SVG onto an in-memory canvas. Nothing you type is sent over the network, so product codes, order numbers or anything else internal stay on your machine.

What is this useful for?

Typical uses are labelling stock and equipment, printing order or ticket numbers that a handheld scanner can read, testing a scanner or point-of-sale setup with a known code, and mocking up packaging before the real artwork exists. Choose SVG when the barcode will be printed or resized, since the bars stay sharp at any size, and PNG when you just need to drop the image into a document or a chat. For the rules behind the retail formats, see the GS1 General Specifications or the Barcode article on Wikipedia.