Free UPC Barcode Generator: UPC-A and UPC-E

UPC-A

The UPC-A Barcode Generator: Lengths, Check Digit, Refusals

What follows is what this tool does, not a paraphrase of the standard. Where the two differ, the tool is what you will actually hit.

Specs

What This Generator Does, Exactly

Including the limits. A tool that only lists what it can do is harder to plan a label run around than one that tells you where it stops.

Not on the list, and deliberately: GS1-128, which we do not generate. There is no barcode API, no Excel add-in and no font. There is also no separate ISBN format anywhere on QRKIT, because there is no such thing — an ISBN-13 is encoded as an EAN-13, so you paste the thirteen digits into the EAN-13 field and get the barcode printed on the back of the book. An older ISBN-10 has to be converted to ISBN-13 first, and we do not do that conversion for you.

Output

Vector SVG and PDF, at the Size You Will Actually Print

Retail symbols are sized by magnification, not by taste, and a UPC that is 10% too small is a UPC that holds up a queue. This generator exports genuine vector and lets you state the finished dimensions up front.

Step by step

How to Create a UPC Barcode

UPC Barcode Generator — Frequently Asked Questions

What is a UPC barcode?

A UPC — Universal Product Code — is the linear barcode printed on retail packaging in the United States and Canada so a checkout scanner can look the item up. The everyday form is UPC-A: twelve digits, encoded as bars and spaces, with the digits printed underneath so a human can read them if the scan fails. The first eleven digits identify the company and the item; the twelfth is a check digit calculated from the other eleven. UPC-E is the compressed eight-digit form for packages too small to carry a full UPC-A. Both are part of the GS1 GTIN numbering system, which is also why a UPC-A and an EAN-13 are close relatives rather than rivals.

Is this UPC barcode generator free?

Yes, and free here means free. The barcode generator on this page asks for no account to create a UPC and no account to download the file, puts no watermark on the output, takes no card, and has no paid tier above it. Unlimited codes, PNG, SVG and vector PDF, and bulk runs of up to 500 at a time, all at no cost. One scoping note so this is not read wider than it is true: downloading a QR code from QRKIT does require a free account. The barcode tool is the part of the site with no gate on it.

Can I use a UPC generated here on a product I sell in stores?

This is the honest answer and it matters more than anything else on the page: the barcode symbol and the barcode number are two different things, and we only give you the first one.

A UPC that scans correctly at a retail checkout has to be built on a company prefix licensed from GS1, the organisation that administers the GTIN numbering system. GS1 issues that prefix to your business; the item numbers you assign underneath it are then unique worldwide. QRKIT does not issue, sell, resell or validate GS1 company prefixes, is not affiliated with GS1, and has no way to tell you whether a number you typed belongs to you. We take the digits you enter, compute the check digit, and draw a standards-conformant symbol.

So: if you are listing products with a major retailer or a large marketplace, get your prefix from GS1 first, then come back and generate the symbols here for free. If you are labelling for your own internal use — warehouse inventory, an asset register, a private catalogue, a closed system where you control every scanner — you can number things however you like, and this generator will produce a perfectly readable UPC for it.

How many digits does a UPC-A need?

Eleven or twelve. Twelve is the finished code. Enter eleven and the generator calculates the twelfth — the check digit — for you and prints the completed twelve-digit number under the bars, so typing 01234567890 produces a symbol reading 012345678905. Enter twelve and the check digit you supplied has to be the right one: the encoder recalculates it and refuses to draw a symbol if the last digit does not match, which is exactly what you want, because a barcode with a bad check digit prints beautifully and then fails at the till. Digits only, and no spaces — the value is trimmed at the ends but interior spaces are not stripped, so a number pasted as 0 12345 678905 is rejected rather than silently fixed.

What is UPC-E, and how is it different from UPC-A?

UPC-E is UPC-A with runs of zeros squeezed out. It prints eight digits instead of twelve and takes up roughly half the width, which is why it ends up on lip balm, chewing gum, single-serving sachets and anything else with no room for a full symbol. It is not a separate numbering scheme: a UPC-E always stands for a specific UPC-A, and a scanner expands it back before doing anything with it.

The catch is that not every UPC-A has a UPC-E form. The compression works by a fixed set of patterns, and which pattern applies is decided by the last of the six middle digits — so only numbers whose zeros fall in the right places can be shortened at all. UPC-E is also limited to number system 0 or 1.

What that means here: this generator does notconvert a UPC-A into a UPC-E for you. It takes UPC-E in the two shapes the encoder accepts — the six middle digits on their own, or the full eight digits led by number system 0 or 1 and closed by a matching check digit. Give it six and it expands them with number system 0, computes the check digit and prints the finished eight-digit code underneath: type 012345 and you get 00123457.

Why was my seven-digit UPC-E rejected?

Because seven digits are genuinely ambiguous and the encoder will not guess. A UPC-E number is six digits of data with a number system digit in front and a check digit behind. Hand it seven and there is no way to tell whether the extra one is the number system at the front or the check digit at the back — read it one way and you get a different product than the other. So the generator takes exactly two shapes: six digits, or eight digits starting with 0 or 1. Anything else gets "UPC-E requires 6 digits, or 8 digits starting with 0 or 1" instead of a symbol. If you have seven digits, work out which end the spare one belongs to before you print anything.

What is the difference between UPC-A and EAN-13?

They are the same numbering system at different lengths. UPC-A is the twelve-digit form used in the United States and Canada; EAN-13 is the thirteen-digit international form. A UPC-A is an EAN-13 with a leading zero, and virtually every scanner made in the last thirty years reads both.

One trap worth knowing, because the tool will not save you from it: pasting a twelve-digit UPC-A into the EAN-13 field does not convert it. EAN-13 accepts twelve or thirteen digits, so a twelve-digit value is read as an EAN-13 that is still missing its check digit, and the generator appends one — producing a different number. To turn a UPC-A into an EAN-13, add the leading zero yourself first. Both formats sit in the same picker on this page, so switching between them is one click. The full fourteen-format list lives on the barcode generator.

Does QRKIT calculate the UPC check digit for me?

Yes, when you leave it off. The check digit is the last digit of a UPC-A and it is arithmetic, not a choice: it is derived from the eleven digits in front of it, so there is exactly one correct value. Enter eleven digits and the generator works it out and prints the completed twelve-digit number under the bars. Enter twelve and it verifies the one you gave it — if it does not match, no symbol is drawn and you get an error rather than a label that fails at the checkout. The same is true for UPC-E: six digits get a check digit computed during expansion, and eight digits are verified.

Can I download a UPC as SVG or PDF?

Yes, and both are genuine vector. SVG is real geometry written into the file, not a traced bitmap, so it opens in Illustrator, Inkscape and label software and scales to any size without softening a bar edge. The PDF is drawn with the PDF's own vector primitives on a page sized to the barcode itself rather than dropped onto a letter sheet, so it goes straight into a print workflow. PNG is there too, at 72, 150, 300 or 600 DPI, for screens and office printers. All three are free, unwatermarked and need no account. There is no EPS export.

How small can a UPC barcode be printed?

Smaller than you think, but not much. GS1 sizes retail symbols by magnification, and 80% is the floor for a UPC-A at a checkout — that puts one module (the X-dimension) at 0.264 mm and the symbol at roughly 3 cm wide. The generator does that arithmetic live: enter your target print width in millimetres, inches or pixels, and it warns you on screen as soon as one bar would fall below 0.264 mm. The other half of the size question is the clear space either side of the bars. A UPC-A needs nine modules of it on both sides and a UPC-E needs nine on the left and seven on the right; those are part of the symbol, not a design margin, and they are drawn into every file we export. Crop them off in your layout and the code stops scanning.

Can I generate UPC barcodes in bulk from a spreadsheet?

Yes, free and with no account. Open "Generate many at once" underneath the generator, paste a column of numbers or upload a CSV, and take the whole run in one download — a ZIP of PNGs, a ZIP of SVGs, or a single PDF with one barcode per page. Up to 500 rows at a time; that ceiling is browser memory, it is the same for everybody, and no plan raises it. Every row is checked against the same UPC rules as the single-code field, so an eleven-digit row gets its check digit computed and a twelve-digit row with a bad one is listed by row number and left out of the download instead of quietly producing an unscannable label. When your CSV has a header the tool works out which column holds the codes and shows you its choice so a name,sku export does not end up encoding product names.

Can I make a UPC barcode I can edit or track later?

No. A UPC is static by definition — the number is the content, it is printed into the bars, and nothing about it can be changed or counted after the file leaves this page. There is no dynamic UPC, no scan analytics and no editable barcode here, at any price, and any tool claiming otherwise is describing a redirect rather than a UPC.

If what you actually want is a code you can repoint after printing, or one whose scans you can count, that is a dynamic QR code — a different symbology for a different job, and unlike the barcode tool it involves an account. Learn about dynamic QR codes.

Does QRKIT have a barcode API?

No. There is no barcode REST endpoint, no plugin, no Excel add-in, no font and no library — the barcode generator is the browser tool on this page and the bulk runner underneath it, and that is the whole product. The encoding happens on your own machine as you type, which is also why nothing you enter is sent anywhere to be turned into a symbol. If you need programmatic barcode generation inside your own system, an open-source encoding library is the right tool and we are not it.

Which barcode should I use if UPC is not right?

Work from what is scanning it. UPC-A is for retail checkouts in the US and Canada; EAN-13 is the same job internationally. Shipping cartons and internal logistics usually want Code 128, which takes letters as well as digits, or ITF-14 for the outer case code. Older fixed-mount industrial scanners often expect Code 39. Books use an ISBN-13 encoded as an EAN-13 — that is how the standard works, so you paste the thirteen digits into the EAN-13 field and get the barcode printed on the back of the book. Small parts and pharmaceutical labels move to a square Data Matrix, which holds the same data in a fraction of the area. All of those are in the picker on this page, and the full set of fourteen is described on the barcode generator hub — including PDF417, the stacked code on IDs and boarding passes. The one that is not there: GS1-128.