EAN and UPC barcodes are the 1D barcodes on retail products worldwide, each carrying the product's GTIN in 8, 12 or 13 digits. barKoder scans EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E codes, including heavily blurred ones, with the camera in your iOS, Android and web apps.
| Type | Linear (1D), continuous, fixed-length symbology. Four symbol types: EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E, with optional 2- and 5-digit add-ons. |
| Character set | Digits 0-9 only. Each digit is 7 modules wide, made of two bars and two spaces. |
| Capacity | 13 digits (EAN-13), 12 digits (UPC-A) or 8 digits (EAN-8), check digit included. UPC-E encodes 6 digits that stand for a 12-digit GTIN with its zeros removed. |
| Check digit | One mandatory modulo 10 check digit, the last digit of the number. Add-ons have no check digit of their own. |
| Standard | ISO/IEC 15420. GS1 General Specifications, section 5.2. |
| Typical uses | Retail point of sale, inventory and stock counts, books and periodicals (with add-ons). EAN-8 and UPC-E go on very small items. |
EAN and UPC are one symbology family, managed by GS1. UPC-A grew up in the US and Canada, EAN-13 in the rest of the world, and today both carry the same kind of number: a GTIN that identifies one product. Scanners at the checkout read them from any direction.
An EAN-13 barcode is built from left to right like this:
UPC-A has the same layout with 12 digits, so a UPC-A reads as an EAN-13 that starts with 0. EAN-8 is a shorter version with 4 digits on each side. UPC-E drops the centre guard and squeezes zeros out of a UPC number to fit small packs.
Four main symbols and two add-ons. barKoder has a separate decoder for each main symbol.
| Variant | Data | Where you find it | barKoder decoder |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAN-13 | 13 digits: a GTIN-13 with check digit | Retail products worldwide. Also books (ISBN, prefixes 978-979) and serials (ISSN, prefix 977). |
Ean13
|
| EAN-8 | 8 digits: a GTIN-8 with check digit | Very small retail items where an EAN-13 does not fit |
Ean8
|
| UPC-A | 12 digits: a GTIN-12 with check digit | Retail products in the US and Canada |
UpcA
|
| UPC-E | 6 encoded digits standing for a GTIN-12 that starts with 0 and contains a run of zeros | Very small retail items, mainly in the US and Canada |
UpcE, with an option to return the full UPC-A number |
| 2-digit add-on | 2 extra digits printed to the right of an EAN-13, UPC-A or UPC-E | Magazines and other periodicals | Not returned today: barKoder returns the main number without the add-on digits |
| 5-digit add-on | 5 extra digits to the right of the main symbol | Books, for example the recommended retail price | Not returned today: barKoder returns the main number without the add-on digits |
The number in the barcode is a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). Its structure tells you who issued it, and its last digit lets you check it.
A GTIN-12 (UPC-A) uses a U.P.C. Company Prefix. Prefixes 02 and 20-29 are restricted circulation numbers, used inside a region or a company, for example for variable-weight items. The GS1 Prefix shows which GS1 organization issued the number, so country of origin is carried separately, in GS1 Application Identifier (422).
The same method works for GTIN-8, GTIN-12, GTIN-13 and GTIN-14. A reader uses it to catch misreads and mistyped numbers.
GTIN-14 numbers for cases and pallets are not carried in EAN/UPC symbols. They use ITF-14, GS1-128 or GS1 DataBar. See Code 25 and ITF-14 and GS1 DataBar.
Wherever a product is sold, counted or restocked, there is an EAN or UPC code on it.
UPC and EAN identify products at the checkout, where each scan applies the price from the retailer's database. Store staff scan the same codes to verify stock, and shoppers scan them in self-checkout and product-information apps.
Barcode scanning for retail →UPC is the default retail format in the US and Canada, and EAN elsewhere. Food and beverage companies label cases and units so retailers can verify shipments, confirm product counts and update on-shelf inventory.
Barcode scanning for food and beverage →EAN-13 and UPC-A codes are also read in general distribution, not only at the checkout. Warehouses scan them to receive goods, pick orders and run inventory counts with phones instead of fixed scanners.
Barcode scanning for warehousing →Logistics teams scan product barcodes alongside shipping labels to confirm what is in each delivery. Combined with Code 128 and ITF-14 labels, they track goods from the supplier to the shelf.
Barcode scanning for logistics →The barKoder Barcode Scanner SDK reads EAN and UPC on iOS, Android, the web, Windows and Linux, and in Flutter, React Native, .NET MAUI, Capacitor, Cordova and NativeScript apps. These features matter most for retail codes.
A dedicated algorithm for heavily blurred EAN and UPC barcodes, even when separate bars have fused together. It handles lens blur, motion blur and focus blur. Turn it on with the UPC/EAN deblur setting, which is off by default.
DeBlur Barcode Scanner SDK →Decodes several barcodes in a single camera view, whatever their type or size. Use it on supermarket price tags and for inventory counting, where many product codes sit side by side.
Batch MultiScan →Handles deformed or damaged 1D barcodes, the kind you find on crushed packaging and worn labels in stores and stockrooms.
Segment Decoding →Lets cashiers scan items in rapid succession without pausing for each barcode, and lets staff scan whole shelves during an inventory audit.
Continuous scanning →Enable only the decoders you need. This Android example from the barKoder docs enables EAN-13 and UPC-A, together with QR Code.
private fun setActiveBarcodeTypes() {
// There is an option to set multiple active barcodes at once as array
bkdView.config.decoderConfig.SetEnabledDecoders(
arrayOf(
Barkoder.DecoderType.Ean13,
Barkoder.DecoderType.Ean8
)
)
// or configure them one by one
bkdView.config.decoderConfig.UpcA.enabled = true
}
Add Ean8, UpcE and UpcE1 the same way. To have UPC-E results returned as full UPC-A numbers, use the UPC-E expand-to-UPC-A setting in the API reference.
Barkoder.setUpcEanDeblur(Barkoder.constants.UpcEanDeblur.Enable);
Decoder setup for other platforms: iOS, Web SDK, Flutter, React Native, .NET MAUI, Capacitor, Cordova and NativeScript.
Install the free barKoder demo app, or open the web demo, and scan the products on your own shelves, including blurred and worn labels, before you integrate the SDK.
iPhone and iPad
Scan with your camera, or point it at the QR code to open the App Store.
Android phones and tablets
Scan with your camera, or point it at the QR code to open Google Play.
Any modern browser
Runs the Web SDK in your browser, on desktop or mobile, with nothing to install.
Test with known samples. Print or display the testing sheet and scan each 1D and 2D barcode with the demo app. The data sheet summarizes the SDK for your team. To make your own test labels, the free barcode generator creates EAN, UPC-A and UPC-E barcodes.
Verified credentials
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Official Solution Provider supporting standards-based barcode and data-capture workflows.
Solution Provider listing covering barcode, mobile application and 2D barcode capabilities.
Discover the barKoder Web SDK listing and connect through Microsoft Marketplace.
Registered Independent Software Vendor in Zebra's PartnerConnect ecosystem.
They are the same symbology family with different lengths. UPC-A holds 12 digits and is used mainly in the US and Canada. EAN-13 holds 13 digits and is used in the rest of the world. Both carry a GTIN, both end in a modulo 10 check digit, and the barcodes share the same bar patterns and guard bars. Retail scanners read both, and the barKoder SDK has a decoder for each: UpcA, UpcE, Ean13 and Ean8.
Add a leading 0 to a 12-digit UPC-A number and you have its 13-digit EAN-13 form. The check digit stays the same. Going the other way only works when the EAN-13 starts with 0: drop the 0 to get the UPC-A. An EAN-13 that starts with any other digit has no UPC-A equivalent. A UPC-E code can be expanded to its full 12-digit UPC-A number, and the barKoder SDK can do this for you with its UPC-E expand-to-UPC-A setting.
Recalculate the check digit. Starting from the rightmost digit before the check digit, multiply the digits alternately by 3 and 1, add the results, and subtract the sum from the next multiple of 10. If the answer matches the last digit, the number is well formed. This confirms the number was read or typed correctly. It does not tell you whether the GTIN is registered to a brand. For that, look the number up with GS1.
Yes, because there is only one EAN format. Every country uses the same EAN-13 and EAN-8 symbols. The first digits, the GS1 Prefix, show which national GS1 organization issued the number, but the barcode structure and check digit are identical everywhere. A scanner that reads EAN-13 reads codes from every country, along with UPC-A codes from the US and Canada.
Yes. barKoder's DeBlur algorithm decodes heavily blurred EAN and UPC barcodes, even when the bars have fused together, and handles lens, motion and focus blur. Segment Decoding handles deformed or damaged 1D barcodes. Turn on DeBlur with Barkoder.setUpcEanDeblur(Barkoder.constants.UpcEanDeblur.Enable); in the Web SDK, or the matching setting on other platforms.
The one that reads your real products on your target devices. Shortlist SDKs that handle blurred and damaged codes, many codes in one frame and your platforms, then test them on your own shelves. barKoder covers these with DeBlur, Segment Decoding and Batch MultiScan, and runs on iOS, Android, the web and cross-platform frameworks such as Flutter, React Native and .NET MAUI. The free trial runs for 30 days on up to 25 devices.
Test the SDK on your own products, shelves and price tags with a free 30-day trial, or talk to an SDK expert about your project.
GS1 DataBar
GS1 Composite
Code 128
Code 25 and ITF-14
MSI Plessey
QR Code