How to Print UPC Labels
That Scan

The short answer

What you need

• A UPC number for each product. It must be licensed from GS1 (or come from the manufacturer). A generator draws the barcode; it cannot give you a number. If you don't have one yet, get a UPC from GS1.
• A printer. Laser or inkjet for label sheets; a 203 or 300 dpi direct-thermal printer for rolls.
• Labels big enough for the barcode. At the smallest allowed size the barcode with its blank margins needs 1.174 in × 0.817 in (29.83 mm × 20.74 mm), plus a little edge margin. See label sheets and thermal rolls that fit a UPC.
• A way to test. Any free barcode-scanner app on your phone, or a USB scanner if you have one.

Step 1: Create the label for your stock

Start from a layout made for your exact label stock, not a loose barcode image pasted into a word processor. Word and similar apps resize pictures to fit a cell, often by a few percent and not always evenly in both directions, and you can't easily see that it happened. A layout made for the stock puts each barcode at a known size in a known position on the page.

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   Step 1: Type your UPC

   Enter the 12 digits in the UPC label generator and choose Generate label. If a digit is missing or a spreadsheet dropped a leading zero, it tells you and suggests a fix you can accept with one click. It never changes a number by itself.

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   Step 2: Add text (optional)

   Add a product name and a second line such as a SKU, size or price. Text is shortened to fit rather than squeezing the barcode, but each line takes height: on a 2¼″ × 1¼″ roll the barcode goes from 98% with a name to 89% with both lines, close to the 80% minimum.

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   Step 3: Choose your label stock

   Pick your Avery sheet or thermal roll size. The generator chooses the largest full-height barcode that fits, between 80% and 200%.

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   Step 4: Set how many

   Print a full sheet or a set number of labels. On a partly used sheet, pick the first empty label so nothing is wasted.

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   Step 5: Download the PDF

   The PDF is the exact page size of your stock, with the same layout as the preview.

For many products at once, use the bulk barcode generator to print labels for many products: paste or upload a list of UPCs with names and quantities (CSV or an Excel file) and get one PDF. Free PDFs hold up to 250 labels each; larger runs can be split across several PDFs.

Step 2: Print at actual size

This is the step that ruins most home-printed barcodes. Many print dialogs scale PDFs to fit the paper by default. The barcode still looks fine on screen, but it prints a few percent smaller, a small barcode can drop below the 80% minimum, and on a label sheet each row drifts a little further off its label. Before you print, open the print dialog and set scaling to 100%.

If the browser's built-in PDF viewer keeps scaling, download the PDF and print it from Acrobat Reader or Preview instead. Our PDFs also ask viewers not to scale them, but not every viewer listens.

Step 3: Calibrate alignment on plain paper

Label sheets are cheap; wasted ones add up. Print your first page on plain paper, put it on top of a label sheet and hold both up to a window or a light. If every label outline lines up, you're done.

• Everything is off by the same amount (say 1.5 mm down): your printer feeds the paper slightly off. That is normal. Measure the shift and enter it as a printer offset; offsets move the whole layout and never resize the barcode. Our calibration instructions walk through it with a test page.
• The top row lines up but lower rows drift more and more: the page was scaled. Go back to Step 2.
• Thermal rolls: if labels print across the gap between two labels, the driver's label size or gap sensing is wrong. Fix it in the printer settings and recalibrate the printer, rather than moving the design.

Step 4: Test-scan before printing the batch

Scan the first real label with a phone scanner app or a USB scanner. A pass means it reads quickly from a normal distance and shows exactly your 12 digits. Then measure it: from the first guard bar to the last, a 100% barcode is 31.35 mm (1.234 in). On an Avery 5163 label with a product name, the generator picks 164%, so expect 51.4 mm (149% and 46.7 mm if you add a second line).

If it doesn't scan or the number is wrong, check in this order:

1. Scale: measure the bars as above.
2. The number itself: a wrong check digit or a missing leading zero gives a valid-looking but different barcode.
3. Print quality: smudged ink, faint or grey bars, glossy glare, or a thermal streak through the bars.
4. Margins: text or the label edge too close to the left or right of the bars.

Sheets vs thermal rolls

Both work. Small sellers often start on sheets and buy a thermal printer once labelling becomes a weekly job. Whichever you use, the 1″-tall sizes (30-up Avery 5160 and 2″ × 1″ rolls) only hold a reduced barcode with no text, so pick a taller label if you want a product name on it.

Troubleshooting

Other ways to print UPC labels

A browser-based generator isn't the only route. Depending on how you sell, one of these may suit you better:

• Your point-of-sale system. If you sell in person, Square for Retail (Square help) and Shopify's Retail Barcode Labels app (Shopify help) print labels from the products already in your catalogue, on the label printers and stocks they support (as of November 2026).
• A print shop. Label printers will produce professionally printed barcode stickers or put the barcode straight onto your packaging. Worth it for large, repeat runs; send them the barcode artwork at the size you want.
• Your own design file. If the barcode goes on a box or a printed label design, download the SVG or a PNG from the generator and place it at 100% in your design app. Scale it evenly only, and keep it between 80% and 200%.

For most small runs of stickers on standard labels, printing your own is quickest: open the UPC label generator, pick your stock and print at actual size.