How to Create a Product Barcode for Retail

Step one is the number, not the picture

Shops and marketplaces identify products by GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). Genuine GTINs come from GS1, the non-profit standards body, through your national member organisation such as GS1 US, GS1 UK or GS1 Korea. You license a company prefix and assign product numbers from it. Numbers bought from unofficial resellers may already belong to another company and are rejected by many retailers.

If a product is sold only in your own shop, you can use an internal code instead, for example Code 128, without a GS1 licence.

EAN-13 or UPC-A?

• EAN-13: 13 digits, used worldwide; the last digit is a mod 10 check digit.
• UPC-A: 12 digits, traditional in the United States and Canada; it is a subset of EAN-13 and scans at checkouts everywhere.
• EAN-8 and UPC-E: shorter versions for very small packs, allocated separately by GS1.
• Books use an ISBN shown as an EAN-13 starting with 978 or 979.

Printing rules that avoid checkout problems

The GS1 nominal size for EAN-13 is about 37.3 mm by 25.9 mm including quiet zones, and it can usually be scaled between 80% and 200%. Print dark bars, ideally black, on a white or light background; red bars are invisible to many laser scanners. Keep the quiet zone empty, do not truncate the bar height, and place the code on a flat area, not over a seam or a tight curve. Export as SVG or PDF so the bars stay crisp for your printer.

How to make it

1. Obtain your GTIN from your local GS1 organisation.
2. Open Barcode and choose EAN-13 or UPC-A.
3. Enter the first 12 (or 11) digits; the check digit is calculated or verified automatically.
4. Set bar height and quiet zone, then export as SVG or PDF for your packaging designer.

Frequently asked questions