SDK Documentation Help

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
(ean13)

Sample EAN-13 barcode

EAN-8
(ean8)

Sample EAN-8 barcode

UPC-A
(upca)

Sample UPC-A barcode

UPC-E
(upce)

Sample UPC-E barcode

Symbology Characteristics

Configuration name

ean13, ean8, upca, upce

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

Last modified: 07 October 2024