Make an ISBN barcode

The barcode on a book’s back cover is its ISBN-13 written as an EAN-13: the 13 digits of the ISBN, which start with 978 or 979, drawn as bars. The bars add nothing to the number. They are the same digits in a form a shop till or a warehouse scanner can read.

Type the ISBN with or without hyphens or spaces. If you have an older 10-digit ISBN, the page converts it to the 13-digit form and tells you the number it used, so you can check it against the one on your copyright page.

The ISBN itself comes from your country’s ISBN agency or from the publishing service that issued it. This page draws the barcode for a number you already have; it does not issue numbers.

From ISBN-10 to ISBN-13

• Take the first nine digits of the ISBN-10, put 978 in front, and work out a new last digit with the EAN-13 rule. The old check digit, which could be an X, is dropped. 0-306-40615-2 becomes 978-0-306-40615-7.
• The page also checks the ISBN-10’s own last digit before converting, so a typing slip is caught instead of being carried into the barcode.

What the digits of an ISBN-13 mean

• 978 or 979 is the prefix that marks the number as a book. Then come a group number for the language or country area, a number for the publisher, a number for the title and format, and the check digit. The hyphens only show those splits, and the barcode carries the 13 digits without them.

The price add-on

• Some books carry a second, smaller barcode beside the main one, a 5-digit add-on that holds a price code. This page draws the main barcode only, so a printer that needs the add-on has to place it from another source.