A free barcode generator for product labels, inventory tags, and receipts. Choose Code 128, EAN-13, UPC-A, ITF-14, or seven other formats, set your colors and size, then download a PNG or SVG. No account, no watermark, and nothing is stored.
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A generator gives you the image, not the right to the number
This catches people out more often than any technical problem, so it belongs at the top rather than buried in a FAQ.
If your product will be sold through shops or marketplaces, the number inside the barcode has to be registered to your business through GS1. That registration is what makes it yours. Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Costco all verify the number against the GS1 database, and anything that does not resolve to a registered brand gets rejected at listing or at vendor onboarding.
The reason this goes wrong so often is that invented numbers scan perfectly. Your own scanner reads them. Your own system accepts them. Nothing looks broken until a retailer runs a lookup, and by then the labels are printed.
You sell to retailers, list on Amazon, Walmart, or eBay in most categories, or supply anyone who scans your stock into a shared system.
The barcode stays inside your own operation. Stock control, asset tags, shelf labels, warehouse bins, event tickets, and receipts all work fine with a number you choose yourself.
Invented numbers scan. They do not survive a lookup.
Skip the resellers advertising cheap barcodes. Those numbers were issued to another company and resold, and major retailers reject them. Apply through your national GS1 organization directly.
Choosing a barcode format
Eleven options sounds like a lot. In practice, most people need one of four, and the rest exist for specific industries.
| Format | What it is for | Input | GS1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code 128 | Internal references, asset tags, and receipts. Takes letters, numbers, and symbols, and packs them tightly. | Any length | Not needed |
| EAN-13 | Retail products in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania. Also carries ISBNs for books. | 12 digits | Required |
| UPC-A | Retail products in North America. A UPC-A is an EAN-13 with a leading zero, so the two systems interoperate. | 11 digits | Required |
| ITF-14 | Outer cartons and shipping cases containing multiple retail units. | 13 digits | Required |
| EAN-8 | Small packaging where a full EAN-13 will not fit, such as gum, pencils, and cosmetics samples. | 7 digits | Required |
| Code 39 | Older industrial, defense, and automotive systems. Readable everywhere, but wider than Code 128 for the same data. | Any length | Not needed |
| Codabar | Libraries, blood banks, and courier systems. Still common because replacing the scanners costs more than keeping the format. | Any length | Not needed |
| MSI | Warehouse shelf and bin labels, mostly in inventory systems that were built decades ago. | Digits only | Not needed |
| Pharmacode | Pharmaceutical packaging lines. Built to read reliably at speed, even when printed imperfectly. | 3 to 131070 | Not needed |
| QR Code | Links, payment pages, contact details, and Wi-Fi credentials. Holds far more than any linear barcode. | Any content | Not needed |
Not sure? Choose Code 128. It encodes text and numbers, stays compact, works with every modern scanner, and carries no registration requirement. For internal use it is the right answer almost every time.
What that extra digit is doing
Enter twelve digits for EAN-13 and thirteen appear underneath the bars. Nothing has gone wrong. The tool added a check digit.
The calculation runs the preceding digits through a fixed weighted sum, then adds whatever value brings the total to a round multiple of ten. A scanner repeats that sum every time it reads the code. If the result does not match the last digit, the read is rejected, and the scanner stays silent.
That silence is the point. A scuffed or misprinted label produces no beep instead of the wrong product at the till. It is a small piece of design that prevents a lot of expensive confusion, and it is the reason you should never type the check digit in yourself.
Printing a barcode that scans first time
Failures are almost always physical rather than digital. Four things cause most of them.
The blank margin either side of the bars tells the scanner where the code begins and ends. GS1 specifies a clear space of at least nine times the narrow bar width on each side of a UPC-A. Trim it to tidy up a label and the barcode stops working.
GS1 allows retail barcodes to be printed between 80 and 200 percent of their nominal size. Below 80 percent, failures start showing up at the checkout. If your packaging is genuinely too small, that is what EAN-8 was created for.
Dark bars on a light background, with nothing subtle about it. Red is the classic mistake, because many laser scanners read using red light and red bars become invisible to them. Black on white is dull and it always works.
Scaling a small image up softens the bar edges, and soft edges are exactly what a scanner struggles with. Use the SVG for professional printing, since vector output stays sharp at any size. The PNG here exports at three times scale for the same reason.
Test on the real material before you commit to a print run. Scan from the actual label, on the actual packaging, under the lighting where it will be used. Curved surfaces, glossy laminate, and shrink wrap all affect readability, and none of that shows up on a screen.
Putting a barcode on a receipt
Look at the bottom of almost any till receipt and there is a barcode. It is not the product code. It encodes the transaction number, so a staff member can pull up the whole sale in seconds instead of typing a long reference while a queue builds.
If you issue receipts and handle returns, it is worth copying. Use Code 128, encode your receipt or order number, and print it at the foot of the document.
- Returns move faster, and nobody mistypes a reference
- Matching a paper receipt to your records becomes a scan instead of a search
- Warranty claims trace back to the original sale without guesswork
Our receipt generator lets you drop a barcode image straight onto the receipt, so you can produce both in one sitting.
One caution for thermal printers. They run at lower resolution than laser or inkjet, and the paper is narrow. Print the barcode larger than feels necessary, keep it pure black on white, and test it. A code that scans cleanly on office paper can fail completely on a 58mm thermal roll.
Common questions
Is this barcode generator free?+
Yes. Unlimited barcodes, no account, no watermark, and no card details. There is no paid tier and no usage limit.
Can I use these barcodes commercially?+
The images are yours, with no license fee and no attribution required. Whether the number is yours is a separate matter, and for retail sale that depends on holding a GS1 prefix.
Can I invent my own EAN-13 number?+
You can, and it will scan. It will also fail the moment a retailer looks it up, because it does not resolve to a registered brand in the GS1 database. For anything sold through a third party, get a real prefix. For internal use only, an invented number is fine.
What is the difference between UPC and EAN?+
UPC-A holds twelve digits and is the North American retail standard. EAN-13 holds thirteen and is used almost everywhere else. They belong to the same system, and adding a leading zero turns a UPC-A into a valid EAN-13. Modern scanners read both.
Which format works best for internal stock?+
Code 128. It accepts letters as well as numbers, encodes them compactly, works with every scanner, and needs no registration. Use your own SKU or asset reference as the value.
Why is my barcode not scanning?+
Usually one of five reasons: the quiet zone has been cropped; it is printed below the minimum size; contrast is too low, with red bars a frequent culprit; the image was scaled up from a small file, so the edges are soft; or the surface is curved or glossy enough to distort the read.
Does every product variant need its own barcode?+
Yes. A 330ml and a 500ml bottle of the same drink are two different products in the system, and so are two colors of the same shirt. Reusing one number across variants causes inventory and pricing errors that are painful to unpick later.
Is anything I type stored?+
No. The barcode is generated in your browser and nothing reaches our servers. Close the tab and it is gone, so download anything you want to keep.
Will these print on a label printer?+
Yes. Use the SVG where your software accepts vector files, since it stays crisp at any size. Otherwise the PNG exports at three times scale, which holds up well in print.
What about QR codes?+
This tool produces basic QR codes. For colors, a logo in the center, and formats like payment links, Wi-Fi, and contact cards, use the dedicated QR code generator.