EAN/UPC
EAN and UPC barcodes are the most commonly used barcodes in retail applications. While EAN barcodes is used on product packaging in Europe and worldwide, UPC barcodes are typically used in the United States and Canada.
Although introduced as early as 1974 (it recently celebrated its 50th anniversary), the EAN/UPC barcodes and remain in widespread use. GS1 – the global standards organization – mandates their replacement as part of the Sunrise 2027 initiative, but it is unlikely that these barcodes will disappear anytime soon.
Both EAN and UPC codes exist in full (EAN-13, UPC-A) and shortened (EAN-8, UPC-E) variants. The table below shows samples for each of the variants.
Symbology | Sample barcode |
|---|---|
EAN-13 |  |
EAN-8 |  |
UPC-A |  |
UPC-E |  |
Symbology Characteristics
Configuration name |
|
ISO specification | ISO/IEC 15420 |
Encodable character set | Numeric (0-9) |
Integrity protection | One mandatory checksum character |
Quiet zone | The size of the quiet zone in modules (X) depends on the variant: EAN-13: left 11X, right 7X, EAN-8: 7X, UPC-A: 9X, UPC-E: left 9X, right 7X |
Configuration Options
EAN/UPC barcodes have a fixed length of 13 digits, so the minLen and maxLen options are not available.
EAN-13
Option | Description | Sample Configuration | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
qz | The minimum size of the quiet zone, in modules (X) |
const config = {
engine: {
symbologies: [
{ name: "ean13", qz: 10 }
]
}
}
| 3 |
EAN-8
EAN-8 barcodes have a fixed length of 8 digits, so the minLen and maxLen options are not available.
Option | Description | Sample Configuration | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
qz | The minimum size of the quiet zone, in modules (X) |
const config = {
engine: {
symbologies: [
{ name: "ean8", qz: 10 }
]
}
}
| 3 |
UPC-A
UPC-A barcodes have a fixed length of 12 digits, so the minLen and maxLen options are not available.
Option | Description | Sample Configuration | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
qz | The minimum size of the quiet zone, in modules (X) |
const config = {
engine: {
symbologies: [
{ name: "upca", qz: 10 }
]
}
}
| 4 |
UPC-E
UPC-E barcodes have a fixed length of 8 digits, so the minLen and maxLen options are not available.
Option | Description | Sample Configuration | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
qz | The minimum size of the quiet zone, in modules (X) |
const config = {
engine: {
symbologies: [
{ name: "upce", qz: 10 }
]
}
}
| 3 |