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Retail (UPC/EAN/GS1) · since 1977
EAN-13 Retail products worldwide, books (ISBN), periodicals (ISSN)
The world’s retail barcode. The first two or three digits are a GS1 prefix showing which national GS1 office issued the number (not where the product was made). The first digit is not drawn as bars: it is encoded in the pattern of the left half.
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At a glance
Introduced 1977
Created by European Article Numbering Association (now GS1)
Characters Digits 0–9
Length 13 digits (12 data + check)
Check Mod 10 (weights 1,3)
Capacity 12 data digits Example: 4006381333931 Anatomy Start guard Digit 0 · L (odd parity) set · parity pattern LGLLGG encodes the leading 4 0 Digit 0 · G (even parity) set · parity pattern LGLLGG encodes the leading 4 0 Digit 6 · L (odd parity) set · parity pattern LGLLGG encodes the leading 4 6 Digit 3 · L (odd parity) set · parity pattern LGLLGG encodes the leading 4 3 Digit 8 · G (even parity) set · parity pattern LGLLGG encodes the leading 4 8 Digit 1 · G (even parity) set · parity pattern LGLLGG encodes the leading 4 1 Centre guard Digit 3 · R set 3 Digit 3 · R set 3 Digit 3 · R set 3 Digit 9 · R set 9 Digit 3 · R set 3 Digit 1 · R set · check digit 1 End guard 4 Hover or tap a digit.
