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Example of an EAN-13 barcode reading 1234567891231 Example of an EAN-8 barcode reading 12345670 Example of an EAN-13 Bookland barcode encoding an ISBN, reading 9781234567897 Example of an EAN-13 barcode with a 5-digit supplemental barcode reading 45678 The European Article Numbering system (EAN), also called JAN in Japan, is a European version of UPC that uses the same size requirements and a similar encoding scheme as UPC codes.

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EAN-8 barcodes

EAN-8 encodes 8 numeric digits consisting of two country code digits, five data digits, and one check digit. B-Coder Pro will accept up to 7 numeric digits for EAN-8 and will automatically calculate the check digit for you. If you enter fewer than 7 digits or if you enter any digits other than 0 to 9, B-Coder Pro will display a warning message. If the option “Enable Invalid Message Warnings” in the Preferences menu is not selected and you do not enter 7 digits, B-Coder Pro will left-pad short messages with zeros and truncate longer messages so that the total length is 7.

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EAN-13 and BookLand barcodes

EAN-13 is the Euro version of UPC-A and encodes a 13th digit into the parity pattern of the left six digits of a UPC-A symbol. This 13th digit, combined with the 12th digit, usually represents a country code. Both EAN-8 and EAN-13 support a supplemental two or five digit number to be appended to the main barcode symbol, designed for use on publications and periodicals. EAN barcode numbers are assigned to specific products and manufacturers by an organization called ICOF located in Brussels, Belgium. EAN-13 has been adopted as the standard in the publishing industry for encoding ISBN numbers on books. An ISBN or BookLand barcode is simply an EAN-13 symbol consisting of the first 9 digits of the ISBN number preceded by the digits 978. The supplemental in an ISBN barcode is the retail price of the book preceded by the digit 5. For example, if your ISBN number is 1-56276-008-4 and the price of the book is $29.95, then you would enter 978156276008 as the barcode message and 52995 for the supplemental.

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Create EAN barcodes with B-Coder Pro

If you need to create EAN barcodes, B-Coder Pro can help you generate them easily and accurately. B-Coder Pro is a powerful barcode generation software that supports a wide range of symbologies, including EAN-8 and EAN-13. With B-Coder Pro, you can create high-quality barcodes for your products and streamline your barcode creation process.
Last modified on November 3, 2026