Barcode Generator | Download as PNG or SVG for Free.

Use our free barcode generator above to create scannable barcodes in seconds. Just enter your text or number, pick a format, and hit generate. Download as PNG or SVG, or copy the barcode directly to your clipboard — no sign-up, no watermarks, no limits.

How to Use This Free Barcode Generator

Creating a barcode takes just a few steps:

1. Enter your data — Type the text, number, product ID, or URL you want to encode into the “Content” field.
2. Choose a format — Select from 10 popular barcode symbologies including CODE 128, EAN-13, UPC-A, CODE 39, and more.
3. Select a size — Pick Small, Medium, or Large depending on where you plan to print or use the barcode.
4. Click “Generate Barcode” — Your barcode appears instantly below the form.
5. Download or copy — Save the barcode as a high-resolution PNG image, a scalable SVG vector file, or copy it straight to your clipboard.

What Is a Barcode?

A barcode is a machine-readable representation of data using a pattern of parallel lines (bars), dots, or geometric shapes. The data encoded in a barcode can represent anything — a product number, a serial ID, a URL, a warehouse location, or even a patient’s medical record number.

When a barcode scanner reads the pattern, it converts it back into the original text or number, allowing systems to instantly identify the item without manual data entry. This simple concept has transformed global commerce, logistics, healthcare, and dozens of other industries since its invention in the 1970s.

There are two broad categories of barcodes:

• 1D (linear) barcodes — The classic vertical bars pattern. Examples include UPC, EAN, CODE 128, and CODE 39.
• 2D (matrix) barcodes — Patterns of squares, dots, or other shapes arranged in a grid. Examples include QR Codes and Data Matrix.

How Do Barcodes Work?

At their core, barcodes are a visual encoding system. Here’s how the process works from creation to scanning:

Encoding: A barcode generator (like the tool above) takes your input data and maps each character to a specific pattern of bars and spaces. Each barcode format has its own rules — called a symbology — that define how characters are represented. For example, in CODE 128, every character is mapped to a pattern of three bars and three spaces of varying widths.

Printing: The encoded pattern is printed as black bars on a white background. The contrast between the dark bars and light spaces is critical — scanners rely on this contrast to read the barcode accurately.

Scanning: A barcode scanner emits a beam of light (laser or LED) across the barcode. The dark bars absorb the light while the white spaces reflect it. A light sensor inside the scanner detects these reflections and converts the pattern of light and dark into an electrical signal.

Decoding: The scanner’s built-in decoder translates the electrical signal back into the original alphanumeric data. This data is then sent to a connected computer, POS system, or database for processing.

The entire process — from scanning to displaying the decoded data — happens in milliseconds.

A Brief History of Barcodes

The concept of barcodes dates back further than most people think:

• 1948–1949: Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland, two graduate students at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, developed the first barcode concept. Woodland drew his initial idea in the sand on a beach — extending the dots and dashes of Morse code downward into thin and thick lines.
• 1952: The duo patented their “bull’s-eye” barcode design (U.S. Patent 2,612,994), a set of concentric circles rather than straight lines.
• 1966: The National Association of Food Chains (NAFC) began exploring automated checkout systems, creating momentum for barcode standardization in retail.
• 1971: The first barcode scanner was installed at a Kroger supermarket in Cincinnati, Ohio — but the technology was not yet commercially viable.
• 1973: IBM engineer George Laurer designed the Universal Product Code (UPC), which became the industry standard. The UPC uses a linear bar pattern instead of the earlier circular design.
• 1974: On June 26, a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum became the first retail product ever scanned with a UPC barcode at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. That pack is now in the Smithsonian Institution.
• 1980s–1990s: Barcodes expanded rapidly beyond retail into healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, and government. New symbologies like CODE 128, CODE 39, and later 2D formats like QR Codes were introduced.
• 1994: Denso Wave (a subsidiary of Toyota) invented the QR Code in Japan, originally designed for tracking automotive parts during manufacturing.
• 2000s–present: Smartphones with built-in cameras turned every consumer device into a barcode scanner, and QR Codes became ubiquitous — especially after the COVID-19 pandemic drove contactless menus, payments, and check-ins.

Types of Barcodes (1D & 2D)

There are dozens of barcode symbologies in use worldwide. Below is a breakdown of the most common types, organized by category.

1D (Linear) Barcodes

Linear barcodes store data in a single row of bars and spaces. They typically encode between 8 and 128 characters and are read by a single-line laser scanner.

2D (Matrix) Barcodes

Two-dimensional barcodes store data in both horizontal and vertical patterns, allowing them to hold significantly more information than 1D codes.

Barcode Formats Supported by This Generator

Our free barcode generator supports 10 of the most widely used 1D barcode formats. Here’s when and why to use each one:

CODE 128 — The Universal Choice

CODE 128 is the most versatile and widely used barcode format. It can encode all 128 ASCII characters — including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols. If you’re unsure which format to choose, CODE 128 is almost always the right answer. It’s the standard for shipping labels, warehouse management, and general-purpose identification.

CODE 128 has three sub-types:

• CODE 128A — Supports uppercase letters, numbers, and control characters.
• CODE 128B — Supports uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and standard symbols.
• CODE 128C — Optimized for numeric-only data. Encodes digit pairs, resulting in a more compact barcode for long numbers.

EAN-13 — International Product Identification

EAN-13 (European Article Number) is the global standard for identifying retail products. Every product you see on a store shelf outside of North America typically carries an EAN-13 barcode. The 13-digit number includes a country prefix, manufacturer code, product code, and a check digit.

EAN-8 — For Small Packages

EAN-8 is a compact version of EAN-13, designed for products where packaging space is limited — such as small cosmetics, candy bars, or individual food items. It encodes 8 digits.

UPC-A — North American Retail Standard

UPC-A (Universal Product Code) is the 12-digit barcode used on virtually every retail product sold in the United States and Canada. It was the first commercially successful barcode symbology and remains the backbone of North American retail.

CODE 39 — Automotive & Military

CODE 39 is one of the oldest barcode formats still in active use. It encodes uppercase letters, numbers, and a handful of special characters. CODE 39 is self-checking (no check digit required), making it popular in environments where simplicity matters — like automotive part labeling and U.S. Department of Defense applications.

ITF-14 — Outer Packaging & Cartons

ITF-14 (Interleaved 2 of 5) is designed for marking shipping cartons and outer packaging. It’s printed with thick bars that are highly readable even on corrugated cardboard. ITF-14 barcodes encode 14 digits — typically a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number).

Pharmacode — Pharmaceutical Industry

Pharmacode is a specialized barcode used exclusively in pharmaceutical packaging. It encodes a single integer between 3 and 131,070 and is designed to be read during high-speed packaging line verification. Pharmacode is intentionally simple — its sole purpose is ensuring the right drug is in the right box.

1D vs 2D Barcodes — What’s the Difference?

In short: Use 1D barcodes when you need simple product or item identification (retail, warehousing, libraries). Use 2D barcodes when you need to store richer data like URLs, contact information, or when space is very limited.

Common Uses of Barcodes

Barcodes have become one of the most widespread technologies in the world. Here are the key industries and use cases:

Retail & Point of Sale

Every product scanned at a checkout counter uses a barcode — typically UPC-A in North America or EAN-13 internationally. Barcodes enable instant price lookup, automatic inventory deduction, and sales data tracking. Without barcodes, modern retail as we know it simply couldn’t function.

Inventory Management & Warehousing

Warehouses use barcodes on every shelf, bin, and product to track what’s in stock, where it’s located, and when it was received. Workers scan items as they arrive, move, and ship out — creating a real-time picture of inventory levels. CODE 128 and CODE 39 are the most common formats in warehouse environments.

Shipping & Logistics

Every package shipped by carriers like FedEx, UPS, DHL, and postal services carries one or more barcodes. These codes track the package from origin to destination, through every sorting facility and delivery vehicle along the way. Scanning events at each touchpoint create the tracking timeline you see when you check your delivery status.

Healthcare

Hospitals use barcodes on patient wristbands, medication packaging, blood bags, lab samples, and medical equipment. Before administering medication, nurses scan the patient’s wristband and the drug’s barcode to verify the right patient is getting the right drug at the right dose — a process called Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) that has dramatically reduced medication errors.

Libraries

Barcodes on library books and membership cards automate the checkout and return process. Each book carries a unique barcode linked to its catalog record, while the patron’s library card has a barcode tied to their account.

Event Tickets & Boarding Passes

Concerts, sports events, airlines, and transit systems use barcodes (especially 2D formats like QR Codes, PDF417, and Aztec codes) on tickets and boarding passes. Scanning at the gate validates the ticket in real-time and prevents counterfeiting.

Asset Tracking

Companies label laptops, furniture, tools, vehicles, and other assets with barcodes to track ownership, location, maintenance schedules, and depreciation. This is essential for IT departments, construction companies, and any organization managing a large number of physical assets.

Document Management

Law firms, government agencies, and healthcare organizations use barcodes to track paper documents — scanning them at each stage of processing to maintain an audit trail and ensure nothing gets lost.

How to Create a Barcode for Your Product

If you’re selling a product at retail and need an official barcode, here’s the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Get a GS1 Company Prefix

The GS1 (Global Standards 1) is the official organization that manages product identification numbers worldwide. To get a legitimate UPC or EAN barcode for retail, you need to join GS1 and obtain a Company Prefix — a unique number assigned to your business. In the United States, you can apply through GS1 US.

Step 2: Assign Product Numbers

Using your Company Prefix, you assign a unique product number (called a GTIN — Global Trade Item Number) to each of your products. The combination of your Company Prefix + Product Number + Check Digit creates the full barcode number.

Step 3: Generate the Barcode Image

Use our free barcode generator at the top of this page to convert your GTIN into a scannable barcode image. Select the appropriate format (UPC-A for the US/Canada, EAN-13 for international) and download it as PNG or SVG.

Step 4: Add to Your Packaging

Place the barcode image on your product packaging, label, or tag. Make sure to follow the printing best practices covered below — proper size, contrast, and quiet zones are critical for reliable scanning.

How to Scan Barcodes

There are several ways to scan barcodes depending on your needs:

Dedicated Barcode Scanners

Professional barcode scanners connect to a computer or POS system via USB, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi. They come in various form factors — handheld guns, desktop scanners, ring scanners worn on the finger, and fixed-mount scanners built into checkout lanes. These scanners are built for speed and reliability, handling thousands of scans per day.

Smartphone Camera

Most modern smartphones can scan barcodes natively using their camera app — both iPhones and Android phones support this. Simply open your camera, point it at the barcode, and a notification will appear with the decoded data. For more advanced scanning, apps like Google Lens or dedicated barcode scanner apps offer additional features like batch scanning and history logging.

Tablet & Computer Cameras

Tablets and laptops with cameras can also scan barcodes using web-based scanner tools or dedicated apps. This is useful in settings where a full scanner setup isn’t practical.

Barcode Printing Best Practices

A barcode is only useful if it can be scanned reliably. Follow these guidelines to ensure your barcodes work every time:

Size Matters

For retail barcodes (UPC/EAN), the recommended size is approximately 1.25 inches (31.75 mm) wide by 1 inch (25.4 mm) tall. You can scale UPC/EAN barcodes between 80% and 200% of the nominal size, but going smaller than 80% risks scanning failures.

Maintain the Quiet Zone

The quiet zone is the blank white space on either side of the barcode. This margin tells the scanner where the barcode starts and ends. A minimum quiet zone of 10x the narrowest bar width is required on each side. Cutting into this space is one of the most common reasons barcodes fail to scan.

High Contrast Is Essential

The ideal barcode is black bars on a white background. Other high-contrast combinations (dark blue on white, black on light yellow) can work, but avoid low-contrast pairings like red on orange, or any barcode printed on a reflective surface. Red bars on a white background will not scan with most laser scanners because the red laser light can’t distinguish red bars from the white background.

Print Resolution

Print barcodes at a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Lower resolutions cause blurry edges that make bars bleed into each other, reducing scan accuracy. When downloading from our tool, use the SVG format for maximum sharpness at any print size.

Surface Considerations

Avoid placing barcodes on curved surfaces, seams, folds, or areas that will be covered by packaging tape. If printing on corrugated cardboard, use a barcode format designed for it — like ITF-14 — which has thicker bars that remain readable on rough surfaces.

Always Test Before Mass Printing

Before printing a large batch of barcodes, always print a single test label and scan it with an actual barcode scanner. This catches issues like incorrect data, insufficient contrast, or sizing problems before they become expensive mistakes.

Benefits of Using Barcodes for Business

Implementing a barcode system in your business delivers measurable improvements across operations:

• Speed: Scanning a barcode takes less than a second — compared to 5–10 seconds for manual data entry. At scale, this saves hundreds of labor hours per year.
• Accuracy: Manual data entry has an average error rate of about 1 in 300 keystrokes. Barcode scanning drops that error rate to roughly 1 in 36 trillion — effectively eliminating human error from data capture.
• Cost reduction: Barcodes are incredibly cheap to produce. A barcode label costs fractions of a penny, and scanners start at under $50. The ROI comes from reduced labor, fewer errors, and better inventory management.
• Real-time data: Every scan event is instantly recorded, giving you real-time visibility into inventory levels, shipment locations, production progress, and sales velocity.
• Scalability: Whether you have 10 products or 10 million, a barcode system scales effortlessly. Adding a new product simply means printing a new label.
• Standardization: GS1-standard barcodes (UPC, EAN, GTIN) are recognized worldwide. Your products can be scanned and tracked by any retailer, distributor, or logistics partner on the planet.
• Compliance: Many retailers, distributors, and government agencies require barcodes on products and shipments. Having a proper barcode system ensures you meet trading partner requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this barcode generator completely free?

Yes. Our barcode generator is 100% free to use — no sign-up, no email required, no watermarks, and no limits on how many barcodes you create. Download as many PNGs and SVGs as you need.

Can I use these barcodes commercially?

Absolutely. The barcodes generated by this tool are standard format images that you own. Use them on product labels, packaging, inventory tags, shipping labels, or anything else. For retail products (UPC/EAN), you’ll need to use an official GTIN number from GS1.

What barcode format should I use?

If you’re unsure, use CODE 128 — it’s the most versatile format and works for almost any application. For retail products in the US/Canada, use UPC-A. For international retail, use EAN-13. For shipping cartons, use ITF-14.

Do I need a GS1 membership to create a barcode?

Only if you plan to sell products at retail. GS1 assigns unique company prefixes and product numbers that ensure your barcode is globally unique. For internal use (asset tags, warehouse labels, library books), you can use any numbering system you want.

Will these barcodes scan with any scanner?

Yes. The barcodes generated by this tool follow international standards and will be recognized by any barcode scanner — handheld, fixed-mount, or smartphone-based — that supports the chosen symbology.

What’s the difference between a barcode and a QR code?

A traditional barcode (1D) stores data in a single row of vertical bars and typically holds up to 128 characters. A QR code (2D) stores data in a grid of squares and can hold up to 7,089 characters, including URLs, contact info, and binary data. QR codes are also more resistant to damage thanks to built-in error correction.

Can I put a barcode on a colored background?

It’s best to stick with dark bars on a light background. Black on white is the safest choice. Avoid red, orange, or brown backgrounds — and never use a red or orange color for the bars themselves, as most laser scanners use red light and cannot detect these colors.

What size should my barcode be?

For UPC-A, the standard (100%) size is about 1.47 inches wide by 1.02 inches tall. You can safely scale between 80%–200% of this. For CODE 128 and other formats, ensure the narrowest bar is at least 7.5 mils (0.0075 inches) wide for reliable scanning.

How do I know if my barcode is valid?

After generating your barcode, scan it using a barcode scanner app on your smartphone. If it reads back the exact data you entered, the barcode is valid. For retail barcodes, you can also use GS1’s official verification services.