ISBN Barcode Generator

Printed books sold in shops carry their ISBN as an EAN-13 barcode on the back cover, often with a small five-digit add-on that tells US and Canadian point-of-sale systems the price. This generator checks your ISBN, converts an older 10-digit ISBN to its 978 form and draws the barcode with the “ISBN …” line above it, at a true printed size. It runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

How to use this tool

1. Type or paste the ISBN — 10 or 13 digits, with or without hyphens.
2. Pick an add-on: none, 90000 (no suggested price), a US or Canadian price, or your own five digits.
3. Choose the magnification your printer or cover template asks for; 100% is standard and 80% is the smallest allowed.
4. Choose SVG for vector artwork or PNG at about 300–1200 dpi, then download and scan a printed proof.

Formula

ISBN-13 check digit = (10 − (d1 + 3·d2 + d3 + 3·d4 + … + 3·d12) mod 10) mod 10

An ISBN-10 becomes an ISBN-13 by adding 978 in front, dropping its old mod-11 check character and computing a new mod-10 check digit. At 100% the narrowest bar (module) is 0.33 mm, the main bars are 22.85 mm tall and the symbol with its quiet zones is 37.29 mm wide; magnification scales all of these together.

US add-ons follow the Book Industry Study Group rules: 5 plus the price in cents for US$0.01–99.98 (US$24.95 → 52495), the price in cents itself for US$100.00–499.99 (US$129.95 → 12995), and 59999 when the price is not encoded.

Example

Enter 0-306-40615-2, the classic example from Wikipedia. Adding 978 and taking the first twelve digits, 9 + 21 + 8 + 0 + 3 + 0 + 6 + 12 + 0 + 18 + 1 + 15 = 93, so the new check digit is 7: the barcode encodes 9780306406157 under the line “ISBN 978-0-306-40615-7”. Choosing a US price of $24.95 adds the five-digit code 52495 to the right. At 100% without an add-on the file prints at 37.29 mm wide.

Before you print

Print black bars on a white or very light background, never reversed. Keep the white margins clear of artwork — the left one also holds the first digit — and do not go below 80% or crop the bar height. Scanning a printed proof with a phone app or a shop scanner is the only reliable final check.