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UPC -A Page 1 of 3
UPC-A Specification
Content Updated: May 29, 2008
Introduction
The UPC-A barcode is the most
common and well-known symbology in
the United States. You can find it on
virtually every consumer goods in your
local supermarket, as well as books,
magazines, and newspapers. There
are a number of UPC variants, such as
UPC-E, UPC 2-digit Supplement, UPC
5-digit supplement.
UPC-A encodes 11 digits of numeric

data along with a trailing check digit, for a total of 12 digits of barcode data.
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Structure of a UPC number

An UPC-A number consists of four areas: (1) The number System; (2)The manufacturer
code; (3) the product code; (4)The check digit. Normally the number system digit is printed
to the left of the barcode, and the check digit to the right. The manufacturer and product
codes are printed just below the barcode, separated by the guard bar.
NS Description Number System. The number system is the first digit in
0 Regular UPC code the UPC number to identify the type of the product. For
1 Reserved
example, if the barcode starts with digit 5, this barcode is
2 Weight Items
3 Drug/Health Items a coupon code.
In-store use on non- Manufacturer Code. The manufacturer code is assigned
4
food items
5 Coupons by UCC council to each manufacturer or company which
6 Reserved distributed goods that uses UPC-A barcode. To apply for a
7 Regular UPC code manufacturer code, visit http://www.uc-council.org/ .
8 Reserved Note that UCC has started to assign manufacturer code
9 Reserved longer than 5 digits to conserve the numbering resource.
In Canada, Electronic Commerce Council of Canada is responsible for assigning 5-digit
manufacturer code. ECCC can be contacted via http://www.eccc.org.
Product Code. The product code is assigned by the manufacturer. The product code is a 5-
digit number so it can accommodate 99,999 possible product codes for each manufacturer.
That is far enough for any manufacturer in the world!
Check Digit. The check digit is used to verify that the barcode is generated or scanned
http://morovia.com/education/symbology/upc-a.asp 2/10/2009
UPC -A Page 2 of 3
correctly. The check digit is calculated based on the rest of the barcode digits. Read the
following section to learn how to calculate the check digit.
The nominal X dimension is 13 mils. The printable X dimension ranges from 10.4 to 24 mils.
Coupon Code
The coupon code is a UPC code with number system 5. A

coupon code contains four areas: (1) Number system 5; (2)
Manufacturer Code; (3) Product Family code and value code;
(4)check digit.
For example, the coupon at the right side indicates that its
family code is 186 and value code is 70, and the manufacturer
of the goods has a UCC code 43000.
Check Digit Calculation

UPC-A check digit is calculated using standard Mod10 method. Here outlines the steps to
calculate UPC-A check digit:
1. From the right to left, start with odd position, assign the odd/even position to each digit.
2. Sum all digits in odd position and multiply the result by 3.
3. Sum all digits in even position.
4. Sum the results of step 3 and step 4.
5. divide the result of step 4 by 10. The check digit is the number which adds the remainder to 10.
A web-based free utility to calculate UPC-A check digit can be found here.
Encoding
A UPC-A symbol can be divided into two halves, each consisting of six digits separated by a
center guard bar pattern. The whole symbol is surrounded by two guard bar patterns. The
same digit has different encoding depends whether it is in the left haf or in the right half. The
encoding pattern for digits in the left halve always starts with a space while the one for digits
in the right halve always start with a bar and ends with a space.
A UPC-A symbol has the following structure:

1. Start guard bars, always with a pattern bar+space+bar.
2. Left halve, six digits encoded using the encoding schema A or B;
3. Center guard bars, with a pattern space+bar+space+bar+space.
4. Right halve, six digits encoded using the encoding schema C.
5. Stop guard bars, always with a pattern bar+space+bar.
Web Tool
At barcode knowledge library we provide free web-based utilities for readers to calculate
check digits, performing number conversions. To calculate UPC check digit, refer to this
page. If you have purchased Morovia UPC/EAN/Bookland Font, you may consider checking
out this page for additional utilities for character mapping.
UPC -A Page 3 of 3
Last Updated: May 29, 2008

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UPC -A Page 1 of 3

UPC-A encodes 11 digits of numeric

Structure of a UPC number

The coupon code is a UPC code with number system 5. A

Check Digit Calculation

A UPC-A symbol has the following structure:

Last Updated: May 29, 2008

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