Can I use an EAN barcode in the US?

Yes. North American retailers have been expected to scan and process EAN-13 codes since 1 January 2005 (the GS1 "Sunrise 2005" date). Some retailers or marketplaces still ask for a UPC, which you can get from GS1 US.

How do I convert a UPC to an EAN?

Add a 0 to the front. The check digit stays the same, because the extra leading zero doesn't change the sum. Going back only works for EAN-13 codes that start with 0.

Does the barcode prefix show the country a product was made in?

No. The first digits show which GS1 member organisation issued the company's number, which is usually where the brand registered, not where the product was made.

Is an ISBN a kind of EAN?

Yes. The 13-digit ISBN printed as a barcode on books is an EAN-13 that starts with 978 or 979.

UPC vs EAN: What's the Difference Between the Barcodes?

Pick up a product in a US store and the barcode has 12 digits. Pick one up in Europe or India and it has 13. They look almost the same, scan at the same tills, and belong to the same system. Here’s how they fit together.

The short version

	UPC-A	EAN-13
Digits	12	13
Mainly used in	US and Canada	Almost everywhere else
Run by	GS1 (GS1 US)	GS1 (each country’s GS1 office)
Small version	UPC-E (8 digits, zeros squeezed out)	EAN-8
Scans in US shops	Yes	Yes, since 2005

Both are GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers): the numbers GS1 uses to identify a product. A UPC-A is a GTIN-12, an EAN-13 is a GTIN-13. Shipping cartons use a third kind, the 14-digit GTIN-14, often printed as an ITF-14 barcode. See GS1’s GTIN overview.

A UPC is an EAN with a 0 in front

The UPC came first, in the US in the 1970s. When Europe adopted the idea, it added one digit at the front so countries outside North America had room for their own numbers. A UPC-A fits inside EAN-13 by starting with 0:

UPC-A: 036000291452
Same product as EAN-13: 0036000291452

It’s the same number, and the check digit (the last digit) stays the same. That’s why converting is easy: add or remove the leading zero. Our UPC to EAN converter does it and checks the digit for you.

For years, though, many US systems could only handle 12 digits, and importers had to relabel products. GS1 US set 1 January 2005 as the date by which North American retailers should scan and store EAN-13 and EAN-8 codes too, a project called “Sunrise 2005” (background on gtin.info). Today a 13-digit barcode sells fine in the US.

What the digits mean

An EAN-13 or UPC-A is split into parts:

GS1 prefix (first 2 or 3 digits of an EAN-13): which GS1 office issued the number. 000–019, 030–039 and 060–139 are GS1 US, 400–440 Germany, 890 India, 978–979 books.
Company number: the brand’s own block of numbers, bought from GS1.
Item reference: the specific product, size or flavour.
Check digit: one digit worked out from all the others, so a scanner can spot a misread.

A common myth: the prefix tells you the country a product was made in. It doesn’t. It shows where the company got its barcode numbers, which is usually where the brand is registered (GS1 company prefix list).

How the check digit works

The last digit lets a scanner catch a misread bar. Here’s how it’s calculated for the UPC 03600029145?:

Starting from the right of the first 11 digits, multiply digits in turn by 3, 1, 3, 1… For a UPC-A that means the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th digits get ×3: 0 + 6 + 0 + 2 + 1 + 5 = 14, × 3 = 42.
Add the other digits: 3 + 0 + 0 + 9 + 4 = 16.
Total: 42 + 16 = 58.
The check digit is what you add to reach the next multiple of 10: 60 − 58 = 2.

So the full UPC is 036000291452. The same method works for EAN-13, EAN-8 and GTIN-14. Try it with any barcode in our check digit calculator, or with GS1’s own calculator.

Which one do you need?

Selling in shops or online marketplaces: get your numbers from GS1 in your own country. You’ll get a company prefix and can make UPC-A or EAN-13 codes from it. In the US, GS1 US sells both single GTINs and prefixes.
Selling mainly in the US or Canada: a UPC-A is the safe default, because some older retail systems and buyers still expect 12 digits.
Selling anywhere else: EAN-13.
Books: an ISBN, which is printed as an EAN-13 starting with 978 or 979. Get it from your country’s ISBN agency.
Only for your own stock room: you don’t need GS1 numbers. Use your own SKUs in Code 128 or QR codes.

Be careful with very cheap barcodes sold by resellers. They’re usually numbers originally licensed to another company, and big retailers and marketplaces can check a barcode’s owner against GS1’s database.

Scanning UPC and EAN codes

Every phone barcode scanner app reads both. QR Code Scan Kit reads UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8 and ISBN codes along with QR codes, shows the product name and photo when it’s in the Open Food Facts database, and checks the check digit. It can also make UPC-A and EAN-13 barcodes, with the check digit added for you.