UNB ECE4253 Digital Communications
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada

EAN-13 Barcode Generating Tool

This online tool generates a 1-dimensional barcode symbol (EAN-13) representing 12 input digits.

The EAN-13 barcode is an extension of the UPC-A barcode representing 11 digits. As such, both barcodes are very similar in structure and appearance.

Encoding Result

The supplied 12-digit sequence 314159265359 is encoded below in a 13-digit EAN-13 barcode. The 13 numbers shown printed along the bottom are a human-readable form of the barcode content, where the first digit is found printed outside the barcode. The final digit (9) is an overall check digit as described below. Encoding
Enter Twelve Digits:
Discussion | View Bits

Check Digit Calculation

The final digit (9) is appended for error detection to complete the 13-digit symbol. The check digit is calculated such that the weighted sum as shown is a multiple of 10 for a valid EAN-13 symbol.

3141592653599 
×1×3×1×3×1×3×1×3×1×3×1×3×1 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
 3 +  3 +  4 +  3 +  5 + 27 +  2 + 18 +  5 +  9 +  5 + 27 +  9 = 120 ≡ 0 mod 10

Any wrong digit and many other digit errors will be detected if the check calculation does not give a zero result. The identical algorithm is used to compute the ISBN-13 check digit.

2025-05-01 18:59:30 ADT
Last Updated: 2016-05-05 		Richard Tervo [ tervo@unb.ca ] Back to the course homepage...