Free Barcode Generator — Create Code 128, EAN & UPC Online

Make Barcode Online is a free barcode generator that runs entirely inside your browser. Pick a symbology, type or paste a value, and a scannable barcode appears immediately. When it looks right, download it as a PNG image or an SVG vector — both are free, both are unlimited, and neither is hidden behind an account. Most people arrive here wanting to create barcode online for a handful of labels and leave thirty seconds later with the file they needed.

An online barcode generator is simply a tool that converts human-readable data — a SKU, a product number, a shelf location — into the pattern of bars and spaces a scanner can read. What separates a good one from a frustrating one is rarely the number of formats it lists. It is whether you can get a clean file out of it without hitting a monthly quota, a watermark, or a paywall on vector export.

How to create a barcode online (free)

There are three steps, and none of them involve registration:

• Choose your barcode type. Code 128 is the right default for anything internal. Use EAN-13 or UPC-A only when you are working with real retail numbers.
• Enter your value. The live preview updates as you type. If a retail check digit is wrong, you are told which digit was expected rather than just being blocked.
• Download PNG or SVG. PNG suits documents, spreadsheets and the web. SVG stays razor-sharp at any size, which is what you want for printed labels.

Because this is a client-side barcode maker, there is no queue and no round trip to a server. Generating one barcode and generating two hundred cost exactly the same: nothing.

Code 128 barcode generator — inventory and shipping

The Code 128 barcode is the workhorse of internal logistics. It encodes the full ASCII set, so letters, digits and punctuation all fit, and it is dense — a long SKU takes up less width than it would in older symbologies. If you are labelling shelves, bins, cartons, assets or work orders with codes you invented yourself, Code 128 is almost always the correct answer.

We also support the Code 39 barcode, an older alphanumeric format still required by some automotive, defence and healthcare workflows. It is less dense than Code 128 and limited to uppercase letters, digits and a few symbols, so reach for it only when a customer or system specifically asks for it.

EAN-13 barcode and UPC-A barcode generator — retail

Retail barcodes are numeric and fixed-length. An EAN-13 barcode carries 13 digits and is the international retail standard. UPC-A carries 12 digits and dominates the United States and Canada. Both end in a check digit calculated from the digits before it, which is how a scanner catches a misread.

This UPC barcode generator is free and handles that arithmetic for you: enter 11 digits for UPC-A or 12 for EAN-13, and the check digit is appended automatically. The same EAN barcode generator verifies a full code instead if you paste one — when the last digit is wrong, the message names the digit that should have been there, which usually reveals a simple transposition typo. EAN-8 is available too, for packaging too small to carry a full EAN-13.

Download barcode PNG and SVG — unlimited, no signup

Every barcode here can be saved in two formats. The barcode PNG export is rendered at double resolution so it stays legible when dropped into a document, a slide or a product listing. The barcode SVG export is a true vector: it scales to any label size without the bars turning fuzzy, which matters a great deal, because a blurry edge is the most common reason a printed barcode fails to scan.

Several popular generators treat SVG as a premium feature and meter free users to a few dozen barcodes a month. That restriction exists because those tools render barcodes on their servers, and servers cost money to run. Ours renders on your machine, so there is nothing to meter. If you need a transparent background rather than the default white plate, open the downloaded SVG in any editor and remove the background rectangle — though for scanning, a solid white quiet zone is strongly recommended.

Code 128 vs EAN-13 vs UPC-A — which should you use?

The choice is decided by where the barcode will be scanned, not by preference:

• Scanned inside your own business — warehouse, stockroom, asset register, library, event check-in? Use Code 128 with whatever numbering scheme you like.
• Scanned at a retail checkout, anywhere in the world? You need a GTIN: UPC-A in North America, EAN-13 elsewhere. The number itself must be issued to you.
• Tiny packaging with no room for a full retail symbol? EAN-8 exists for exactly that case.

Do you need GS1 barcodes?

This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the barcode world, so it is worth being blunt. Drawing a barcode image and owning the number inside it are two different things. AnyGS1 barcode generator, including this one, can render the bars for any number you type. None of them can give you the right to use that number commercially.

Retail GTINs are licensed through GS1. If you intend to sell through shops, or list products on Amazon and similar marketplaces, you will generally need numbers issued to your company — a code you made up may scan perfectly and still be rejected, or worse, collide with another company's product. For anything scanned only within your own four walls, none of this applies: invent your codes freely and encode them as Code 128.

Privacy-first: barcodes generated on your device

Product codes are business data. Unreleased SKUs, order numbers and customer references all routinely end up pasted into barcode tools, and most of those tools send that text to a server to be rendered into an image.

This one does not. The encoding library loads once with the page and then runs locally, which means your values stay in the browser tab. You do not have to take that on faith: open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and generate a barcode. Nothing is requested. As a side effect, the tool keeps working if your connection drops after the page has loaded.

Printing and mobile tips

A few habits prevent almost every scanning failure. Keep dark bars on a light background — inverted or coloured barcodes confuse many scanners. Preserve the quiet zone, the empty margin on each side, which is included in every download here. Print at 100% rather than letting a print dialog shrink the page to fit, and prefer the SVG when your label software accepts it. Finally, test-scan one printed sample with your phone camera before you commit to a sheet of five hundred.

The tool is built mobile-first, so you can generate and save a barcode from a phone while standing at the shelf you are labelling. Light and dark themes are both supported, and the preview area deliberately stays white in dark mode, because that is what scans reliably.