How to Generate a Barcode Online

EAN-13 is the international standard for retail products sold outside North America. UPC-A (12 digits) is the North American standard. Both are widely supported by point-of-sale systems globally — most modern scanners read both. To use EAN-13 or UPC-A barcodes for actual retail products (sold in stores with scanner checkout), you need to purchase a legitimate GS1 company prefix to ensure globally unique numbers. This tool generates the barcode image; purchasing a GS1 number is a separate process.

The barcode image itself can be used on any product. However, for retail products sold in stores that use scanner-based point-of-sale systems, the barcode number must be globally unique — a requirement met by purchasing a GS1 company prefix. Using random numbers risks conflicts with existing products. For internal inventory management, warehouse operations, or products sold directly without retail barcode scanning, you can assign your own numbering scheme freely.

1D (one-dimensional) barcodes like Code 128, EAN-13, and UPC-A encode data in the widths and spacings of vertical bars — they can only be read by scanning horizontally across the bars. 2D barcodes like QR codes and Data Matrix encode data in both dimensions (patterns of dots, squares, or hexagons) — they can store far more data and can be read at any angle. 1D barcodes are standard for retail and logistics because they are simpler and faster to scan with dedicated hardware. QR codes are preferred when URL, contact, or rich data needs to be encoded.