Barcode Generator

What is a barcode generator?

A barcode generator turns a number or short string into the familiar pattern of black bars and white spaces that a scanner can read. Behind the stripes is a symbology — a set of rules for how characters become bars — and different industries standardised on different ones: retail uses EAN and UPC, warehouses and shipping use Code 128 and ITF-14, and asset tags often use Code 39. These are all linear (1D) codes; if you need to pack a URL or far more data into a square, a QR Code Generator is the 2D equivalent.

This tool encodes your value into the symbology you choose, renders it live, and lets you download a PNG or SVG with full control over size, colors and the human-readable text. Everything happens in your browser, so it's fast, private, and free of watermarks.

How to use it

1. Choose a symbology from the dropdown. The tool drops in a valid sample value so the preview never starts broken.
2. Type your value. It's validated against the chosen format as you type — a friendly message appears if the digits or characters don't fit.
3. Tune the look: bar width, height, whether to show the human-readable text, the text margin, and the foreground / background colors.
4. Download the result as a PNG (great for slides, email, web) or an SVG (vector, perfect for print and design tools).

The symbologies explained

EAN-13 and EAN-8 — retail products

EAN-13 is the 13-digit barcode on almost every retail product worldwide. It encodes a GS1 company prefix, an item reference, and a final check digit computed from the other twelve. EAN-8 is its compact 8-digit cousin for small items where a full EAN-13 won't fit. Both require an exact digit count and a valid checksum, which is why a typo is rejected rather than silently producing an unscannable code.

UPC-A — North American retail

UPC-A is the 12-digit standard used across the US and Canada — functionally the older sibling of EAN-13 (an EAN-13 is essentially a UPC-A with a leading zero). Use it when a North American retailer specifically asks for a UPC.

Code 128 — logistics and anything alphanumeric

Code 128 is the workhorse for shipping labels, internal tracking, and any case where you need to encode letters, digits and symbols compactly. It's high-density and supports the full ASCII set, so it's the right choice for SKUs, order numbers, and serials like PG-2026-0001. If you're not bound to a retail standard, Code 128 is usually the best default.

Code 39 — asset tags and ID cards

Code 39 encodes uppercase A–Z, digits 0–9, and a handful of symbols (- . $ / + % and space). It's older and less dense than Code 128 but extremely widely supported by older scanners, which keeps it popular for asset tags, badges, and inventory labels.

ITF-14 — shipping cartons

ITF-14 (Interleaved 2 of 5) encodes the 14-digit GTIN used on outer cases and cartons. Its bold bars survive printing directly on corrugated cardboard, where a fine retail barcode would smear.

MSI and Pharmacode — niche but useful

MSI is a numeric symbology still found in warehouse and inventory shelf labels. Pharmacode is a pharmaceutical packaging code (a number from 3 to 131070) designed to be reliably read even when printed in tight, high-speed production lines.

Check digits: why the tool rejects some values

Retail symbologies bake in a check digit — a final number mathematically derived from the others. A scanner recomputes it and, if it doesn't match, treats the read as an error. That's a feature: it catches misreads and mistyped codes. In practice it means:

• EAN-13 must be exactly 13 digits, EAN-8 exactly 8, UPC-A exactly 12, ITF-14 exactly 14.
• If your digit count is right but the code still won't validate, the checksum is off — double-check the digits.
• Code 128 and Code 39 don't impose a fixed length, so they're forgiving — but Code 39 only accepts its allowed character set.

When the value doesn't fit the chosen symbology, the generator shows a clear message instead of producing a barcode no scanner could read.

When to use which

• Selling a product in a shop? EAN-13 (most of the world) or UPC-A (North America) — and you'll need a real, registered GS1 number to sell through retailers.
• Internal tracking, SKUs, shipping labels? Code 128 — alphanumeric and dense.
• Asset tags, badges, legacy scanners? Code 39.
• Outer cartons and cases? ITF-14.
• Warehouse shelf labels / pharma packaging? MSI / Pharmacode.

Print and scan tips

• Prefer SVG for anything printed. A vector scales without the fuzzy edges that wreck a scan; rasterise only at the final size.
• Keep the quiet zone. Scanners need clear white space on the left and right — don't crop tight against the bars. The default margin protects this.
• High contrast wins. Black bars on a white background scan best. Avoid light bars, busy backgrounds, or low-contrast color pairs.
• Don't shrink too far. If bars merge at small sizes, increase the bar width or print larger.
• Test before you commit a print run. Scan it with a phone app first; a barcode that looks fine but won't scan is worse than none. If you just need placeholder values to test a label layout, our Fake Data Generator can spin up sample codes.

The wedge: clean barcodes, no watermark, no signup

Plenty of online barcode makers — TEC-IT among them — give you a barcode but stamp a watermark on the free output, or push you toward a paid license for a clean image. Others want an account before you can download.

This tool doesn't:

• No watermark, ever. The PNG and SVG you download are clean and ready for production use.
• No signup, no upsell. Open the page, type a value, download.
• 100% local. Your value is encoded in your browser and drawn to a canvas or SVG — nothing is uploaded or logged, and it works offline. Even confidential internal codes stay on your machine.
• PNG and SVG. Raster when you need it, vector when you want sharp print output.

Pick a symbology, enter your value, style it, and download a clean barcode in seconds.