What it is
The Barcode Generator turns a number into an EAN-13 barcode you can download as an image and print, without installing anything.
EAN-13 is the barcode on almost everything sold in a shop outside North America: thirteen digits, where the last one is a check digit calculated from the other twelve. That check digit is what lets a scanner know instantly whether it read the code correctly.
How to use it
- Type the number.
- See the barcode render as you type.
- Download the image and place it in your label, sheet or document.
Before you print it on a product
There is one thing worth being clear about. A barcode you generate here is a valid image of a code, and any scanner will read it back correctly. That is not the same as owning the number.
Real EAN-13 codes are allocated: the first digits identify a country prefix and a company assigned by GS1, the organisation that runs the system. To sell a product through retailers who scan it, you need a number issued to you, not one you chose. Printing an invented code on a product for sale creates a collision with whoever legitimately owns it.
Which leaves plenty of legitimate uses: internal inventory, labelling your own shelves and boxes, testing a scanner or a point-of-sale integration, mock-ups and design work, and teaching how the format works.
Related: the QR code generator for links and text rather than product numbers.