An ISBN barcode is an EAN-13
Since 2007, ISBNs have been 13 digits beginning 978 or 979, and the barcode on a book is an EAN-13 of that number. Bookshops scan it like any other retail product. Above the bars, books usually print the hyphenated ISBN in text ("ISBN 978-0-306-40615-7"), and some add a small 5-digit barcode to the right with a suggested price.
ISBN-10
If you have an older 10-digit ISBN, the tool converts it: prefix 978, drop the old check character (which can be X), and calculate a new EAN-style check digit. For 0-306-40615-2 the result is 978-0-306-40615-7.
Hyphens
The hyphens divide the prefix, registration group (country or language), registrant (publisher), publication and check digit. Their positions depend on number ranges, so the tool takes them from you rather than guessing. Enter the ISBN with the hyphens shown on your allocation and the barcode includes the ISBN line. Without hyphens, you get the EAN-13 with the digits underneath, which scans the same.
The price add-on
The EAN-5 add-on is mainly used in the US book trade. The first digit is the currency (5 for US dollars, 6 for Canadian dollars) and the next four the price; 90000 means no price. Most Australian and UK books leave it off. Enter it in the add-on field if your distributor asks for it.
Size and placement
Place the barcode on the back cover, usually bottom right, on a white box, at around 100% EAN-13 size and full bar height. Do not shrink it to fit the design: bookshop scanners are fast but the barcode must be clear. Use the PDF or SVG download and place it in your cover file at 100%.
Printing tips
- Print at 100%. In the print dialog choose "Actual size" or 100%, never "Fit to page". Scaling changes the bar widths, and a barcode printed at 94% can fall outside the reader's tolerance.
- Use vector files where you can. The SVG and PDF downloads are vector: bars stay sharp at any size and the PDF page is exactly the barcode's size. Use PNG for software that only takes images, at 300 dpi for office printers and 600 dpi for thermal label printers.
- Dark bars, light background. Black on white scans best. Dark blue and dark green work; red, orange and yellow bars are invisible to red-light laser scanners. The tool warns when the contrast is low.
- Keep the quiet zone. The clear margin either side of the bars is part of the symbol. Do not let text, a box edge or a label edge into it.
- Test before a print run. Print one, then scan it with the scanner your customers or staff will actually use, and with a phone app, before printing hundreds.
Why barcodes fail to scan
- Too small or scaled. Bars printed narrower than the reader can resolve, or a file squashed in one direction when it was placed in artwork.
- No quiet zone. Text, a border or the edge of the label too close to the first or last bar.
- Low contrast. Grey on grey, coloured bars on a coloured background, or bars printed on a shiny or transparent surface.
- Ink spread and blur. Inkjets on absorbent paper and worn thermal printheads widen the bars. Print a test and check the bars look crisp; for thermal printers, use 600 dpi or the printer's native resolution.
- Curved or creased surfaces. Bars wrapped around a narrow bottle or across a fold. Turn the barcode so the bars run with the curve (picket fence across a flat face, ladder around a cylinder).
- Wrong data. A check digit that does not match, or a number with the wrong length. This tool checks both before it draws anything.
Which download to use
- SVG for designers and packaging artwork. It is a vector file sized in millimetres, so it opens at the right size in Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity and Canva, and stays sharp when printed. Do not stretch it in one direction.
- PDF when you send a file to a printer or place it in a print layout. The page is exactly the size of the barcode, quiet zone included, so it can be placed at 100% without measuring.
- PNG for software that only accepts images: label printer apps, spreadsheets, online stores and word processors. Choose 300 dpi for office printers and 600 dpi for thermal label printers. The tool rounds each module to a whole number of pixels so the bars stay crisp, which can make the PNG slightly smaller or larger than the millimetre size; the size line under the preview shows the result. Tick "transparent" to drop the background for placing on coloured artwork, but keep a light background behind the bars when printed.
To make many at once, use the ZIP option below the generator: paste one value per line or load a CSV and download PNG or SVG files named after each value.
How this tool works
Barcodes are drawn in your browser with bwip-js, an open-source (MIT) port of Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript, and PDFs are written with pdf-lib. Nothing you type is uploaded, and the page works offline after the first visit. Single barcodes are free in every format with no watermark. Paid licences cover print-ready label sheets and large batches; see the box above.