Barcode Generator
Type a value, get a barcode, download it — PNG, SVG or a printable sheet of labels.
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Pick a symbology
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3
Take it away
- Nothing is uploaded — the code is drawn in your browser
- No account, no watermark, no usage cap
- Vector SVG and PDF, safe to send to a printer
More specific jobs
How the code gets made
The encoder runs in this page
The symbology tables, the check-digit arithmetic, the Reed–Solomon error correction for QR and the PDF writer are all JavaScript loaded from this domain. Your value never leaves the browser, so there is no upload to wait for and nothing of yours in our logs.
The output is vector where it matters
SVG and the PDF label sheet describe the bars as shapes, so a printer draws clean edges at any size. The PDF sheet uses the label manufacturer’s own margins and pitch, and the barcodes inside it are drawn as rectangles rather than a stretched image — a rescaled raster is the usual reason a printed code stops scanning.
It finishes the job
Most barcode pages near the top of search results belong to warehouse or labelling software, where the generator exists to collect a lead: it shows a code and then asks for a demo. There is no sales step here, because there is nothing to sell you. Make the code, take the file, close the tab.
A note on numbers, because it is the thing people get wrong most expensively: a generator draws bars, it does not issue product numbers. Retail EAN and UPC numbers are licensed from GS1 as a company prefix. If you print a made-up number it will scan perfectly and identify a product that is not yours, and the problem surfaces at a till or a marketplace listing rather than here. For internal use — shelves, bins, assets, samples, kitchen stock — no allocation is needed at all: Code 128 with your own naming scheme is the normal answer.
What this generator will and will not do
5 — EAN-13, UPC-A, Code 128, Code 39, QR
Symbologies
PNG, SVG, PDF label sheet
Download formats
6 — four Avery, two plain grids
Label stocks in the PDF sheet
666 bytes, version 20
Longest QR payload (level M)
printable ASCII, space to ~
Code 128 character range
0–9, A–Z, space and - . $ / + %
Code 39 character range
500 per run
Rows accepted on the bulk page
0 — the code is drawn in the page
Bytes of your data sent to us
none
Accounts, e-mails or trials needed
Other ways to get the same label
| Approach | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| A barcode font in Word or Excel | Someone who already has the font installed and needs Code 39, which survives being typed as text | EAN-13 and UPC-A cannot be done this way honestly: the check digit and the parity of the left half are not something a font can compute. Fonts also print at whatever size the cell happens to be, and a squeezed barcode stops scanning |
| Your warehouse or e-commerce system | Teams whose stock software already prints labels — the codes are then guaranteed to match the stock records | Only prints what is in the system. A one-off label for a shelf, a bin or a sample never gets one |
| A design tool such as Canva or Illustrator | When the label is a piece of packaging design and the barcode is one element among many | Barcode support is usually a plug-in with its own limits, and the export is easy to rescale by a few percent — which is exactly what breaks a scan |
| A barcode site that asks you to sign up | Anyone who needs the extras such team libraries or an API | The free path usually stops before the file: watermark, low resolution, or a contact form instead of a download. That is the business model, not a bug |
| This page | One code, or one value repeated across a sheet, needed now and in a format a printer will accept | No stored library, no API, no account — nothing is remembered between visits, so a code you need weekly has to be typed weekly |
Barcode words, in plain English
- Symbology
- The barcode alphabet — the rule that turns your characters into bars. EAN-13, Code 128 and QR are three different symbologies, not three sizes of the same thing.
- Check digit
- The last digit of an EAN or UPC number, calculated from the others. A scanner recalculates it and rejects the read if it disagrees, which is how a misprint gets caught instead of becoming a wrong sale.
- Quiet zone
- The empty margin either side of a barcode. It is part of the code, not spacing around it: crop it off and many scanners stop finding the code at all.
- Module
- The narrowest bar or space in the symbol. Every other width is a whole number of modules, which is why scaling a barcode by an odd percentage can break it.
- GS1 prefix
- The block of numbers a company licenses so its products do not collide with anybody else’s. It is the number that costs money; drawing the bars does not.
- Error correction level
- How much of a QR code can be damaged and still read — L about 7%, M 15%, Q 25%, H 30%. Higher levels make the code denser, so on a small label H is usually the right trade.
- Vector output
- SVG and PDF describe the bars as shapes rather than pixels, so a printer renders crisp edges at any size. A stretched PNG gives half-pixel edges, and half-pixel edges are where scanners start missing.
- Human readable interpretation
- The digits printed under the bars. Retail standards require them, and they are what lets a cashier key the number in when the label is scuffed.
Questions people actually ask before printing
Is it really free, and where is the catch?
There is no account, no trial, no watermark and no cap on how many codes you make. The site is paid for by advertising, which is why you see ads and not a sign-up wall. Everything the generator can do, it does on the first visit.
Does my data get uploaded anywhere?
No. The encoder runs in your browser: the value you type is turned into bars by JavaScript on the page, and the PNG, SVG or PDF is assembled in the same place. Nothing about the code is sent to our server, so there is nothing for us to keep. Traffic statistics are separate and are described on the privacy page.
Which format should I choose?
Selling through a shop or marketplace: EAN-13 outside North America, UPC-A inside it, and only with a number your company owns. Labelling your own shelves, bins, assets or samples: Code 128, which takes letters and digits and packs digits tightly. Code 39 is the old, forgiving one that some legacy scanners still expect. QR for anything a phone camera should open.
Can you give me a barcode number for my product?
No, and be wary of anyone who says they can for free. Retail numbers come from GS1, who license a company prefix. A generator only draws the bars. If you print an invented number it will scan happily and identify somebody else’s product.
Why does it add a digit to my 12-digit number?
EAN-13 is twelve digits of data plus a calculated check digit. Give it twelve and the thirteenth is worked out for you; give it thirteen and we verify it and refuse the code if it disagrees, rather than silently changing your number.
What size should I print a barcode at?
For EAN-13 and UPC-A the retail nominal is about 37 mm wide, and most scanners tolerate 80% to 200% of that. Below roughly 80% the narrow bars get thinner than the scanner’s resolution. Use the SVG or PDF rather than the PNG so that scaling stays crisp, and never stretch a code in one direction only.
The printed code will not scan. What went wrong?
Four causes cover almost everything: the quiet zone was cropped, the code was scaled non-uniformly, it was printed too small, or it was printed on a background that is not white. Check the margins first — that is the most common one and the least obvious.
Can I put a different value on every label?
Yes, on the bulk page. Paste or upload a CSV, pick the symbology and the label stock, and you get one PDF with the whole batch laid out. This page repeats a single value instead, which is what you want for shelf and bin labels.
Which label sheets are supported?
Avery 5160 and 5163 on US Letter, Avery L7160 and L7163 on A4, plus two plain grids with cut lines printed. The layouts use the manufacturer’s published margins and pitches, so a sheet should line up without nudging.
Do I need to turn off page scaling when printing?
Yes. Print the PDF at 100%, with any “fit to page” or “shrink oversized pages” option switched off. Fit-to-page is the single most common reason a label sheet comes out a few millimetres short and misses the die-cuts.
What error correction level should a QR code use?
M is a sensible default for a screen or a poster. For something printed small, handled, or stuck on a box that will be dragged around, H recovers about 30% of the code and is worth the extra density. L only makes sense when the code must stay physically small and lives somewhere clean.
Does the QR code expire or get tracked?
No. A QR code is not a link to us — the text you typed is stored in the pattern itself. There is no redirect, no counter and nothing that can stop working later. That also means we cannot change where it points once it is printed.
Can I use these codes commercially?
Yes. The images are yours; there is no licence on the output and no attribution asked for. The only thing you need to own is the number itself, in the cases where the number is licensed.