2D Barcode
Linear Barcode
EAN-13
EAN-13

EAN-13 is a linear barcode symbology which defined by the standards of GS1. It is an extension of barcode UPC-A. EAN is Acronym of European Article Numbering. The EAN barcode was originally used by supermarkets for products identification. It was adopted by the 12 countries of the European Community in 1977. EAN-13 is implemented widely in retailing applications nowadays. Barcode EAN-13 contains 13 characters. For products needs smaller space, EAN-8 is recommended. In January 1, 2005, Uniform Code Council of USA announced all retailing scanning system should be able to read EAN-13 barcode. Thus EAN-13 barcode will be essential on exporting goods to US and Canada.
Components of EAN-13
EAN-13 barcode contains 4 parts:

The first 2 digits is the number system of Country code. It indicates the country code or economic region of the manufactory. It differs from 978 or 979 when encoding different conversation in ISBN, ISMNs OR ISSNs. In dustrial country, the country code will be assigned with 2-digit codes while less developed ones with 3-digit codes. The barcode starts with "0" number system is a UPC-A.

The following 3~8 digits is the company number. Length differs in different conversation in ISBN, ISMNs OR ISSNs. Usually it will be the first 7 digits of the part one and two. All products in the same company will share the same company code.

The following 2~6 digits is the product code. The product code could be designed by the company only if they make sure there is no reduplication.

The last one is the checksum digit. Checksum digit is essential for verifying scanning correction of the barcode.
Encoding Data of EAN-13
EAN-13 is capable of handling the Numeric digits from 0 to 9.
Checksum Digit of EAN-13
Correct checksum digit should be obtained before encoding EAN-13. Like EAN-8, it uses the modulo 10 calculation method. Follow the steps to get the check digit:
  • Find the right-most digit of the barcode, put it into the table below as "odd" position (in the position column as "odd"
  • Put digits in sequence from right to left into the table
  • Multiply value with 3 of the digits in odd position
  • Multiply value with 1 of the digits in even position
  • Sum all the total of the weighted summary column
  • Add a number plus the result. The summary could be evenly divided by 10. The number added is the checksum digit.
Note: If summary calculated of the message could be evenly divided by 10. Checksum is "0".
Eg: Checksum of "23456789123"is calculated as:

Summing up all the result in the column "Summary": 0 + 6 + 3 + 12 + 5 + 18 + 7 + 24 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 9 =98. Then we add one number which could be even divisible by 10. That is: 2+98=100. Number 2 is the smallest value added with 98 that could be even divisible by 10. Thus Number 2 is the check digit.

The barcode generated will be the image below as“0234567891232”.