UPC-A

The UPC-A code is the standard version of the UPC code and has 12 digits. It is also called UPC-12 and is very similar to the EAN code. The UPC-A code is a numeric code which is able to display digits from 0 to 9. Each character consists of two lines and two spaces.

UPC-A encodes 12 digits. The first digit of the UPC-A code indicates what the code contains as follows:

0. Regular UPC code

1. Reserved

2. Articles where the price varies by weight: for example meat.

3. National Drug Code (NDC) and National Health Related Items Code (HRI)

4. UPC code which can be used without format restrictions. For use in-store on non-food items

5. Coupons

6. Reserved

7. Regular UPC code

8. Reserved

9. Reserved

The second to sixth digits indicate the producer of the article (UPC ID number). This number is issued by the Uniform Code Council (UCC). The seventh to eleventh digits show the individual article number issued by the producer. The last digit is a Modulo 103 checksum digit, which is calculated by Barcode Xpress.

The height of the UPC-A symbol should be at least half of the length of the symbol.

Barcode Xpress generates an error if you have characters in your barcode value that are not allowed. You can have 11 or 12 digits in the UPC-A value. You don’t need to include the 12th digit (checksum) since Barcode Xpress calculates it anyway.

An example: