ISBN barcode generator

The barcode on a book's back cover is your ISBN, drawn so a till can scan it. Once you have an ISBN, you can make it yourself: you don't need to buy one. Type your ISBN, choose a size, and download a print-ready SVG or PNG.

It's made in your browser. Your ISBN isn't sent to Bervet, and the barcode isn't kept anywhere. Free for members.

Only use an ISBN that's yours

Use the ISBN issued to you or your imprint for this exact edition. Your paperback and hardcover each have their own; a barcode with the wrong one sells the wrong book.
Don't put someone else's ISBN, a made-up one, or one from an old edition on a new cover. Bookshops and distributors will match it to whatever that number is registered as.
A free ISBN from KDP or IngramSpark only works on that platform. Don't print its barcode on a cover you're sending anywhere else.
Be careful with "cheap ISBN" resellers: the number may be registered to them, not you. ISBNs without the traps covers where to get your own.

Do you need to make one?

Often not

KDP paperback: leave the barcode area of the back cover blank and KDP adds it, free.
IngramSpark: its cover template comes with the barcode on it.

Make your own when

you design the whole back cover yourself
you print with a local or offset printer
you want the price add-on

Your ISBN (or several, one per line)

ISBN-13 or ISBN-10, up to 10 at a time (say, a series' paperbacks and hardcovers). Type them with the hyphens your agency gave you, and they'll print above each barcode the same way.

Price add-on (the small second barcode)

None No price shown (90000) US price

US bookshops often expect it. Amazon and most online stores don't need it.

Print size

Scale it here rather than in your design program: stretching it only one way stops it scanning.

PNG resolution

The SVG has no resolution: it's sharp at any size. Use it if your design program takes SVG.

What's in a book barcode

The main barcode is an EAN-13: the 13 digits of your ISBN, starting 978 or 979. Above it, your ISBN printed with its hyphens. The optional five-digit add-on to the right carries a price: 5 then the US price (51499 is $14.99), or 90000 for no price.

At standard size the bars are 0.33 mm wide and the whole thing is about 37 × 26 mm, or a little wider with the add-on. Printers and scanners are happy anywhere from 80% to 200% of that, as long as it's scaled evenly, printed in black on a white background, and keeps its white margin.

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