UPC-E

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UPC-E

The UPC-E barcode is a compressed version of the longer UPC-A code used in grocery and retail stores worldwide. It’s designed for use on products that are too small to accommodate standard UPC-A codes by “squeezing out” existing zeros to compress symbol width. These zeros are automatically re-inserted when read by a barcode scanner. 

There are two caveats for converting a UPC-A code into a UPC-E — the initial barcode must contain at least one zero, and the first character of the UPC-E must always be a zero. There are also four rules that govern what UPC codes can be created when using the UPC-E format:

  • When the last 3 digits of the manufacturer’s number are 000, 100, or 200, valid product code numbers range from 00000-00999.
  • When the last 3 digits of the manufacturer’s number are 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, or 900, valid product code numbers range from 00000-00099.
  • When the last 2 digits of the manufacturer’s number are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90, valid product code numbers range from 00000-00009.
  • If a manufacturer’s number does not end in zero, the only valid product code numbers are 00005-00009.

Format

The UPC-E format contains six key elements:

  • A leading quiet zone at least 10x the width of one narrow bar.
  • A start character (guard pattern).
  • Six symbol characters including the check digit.
  • A stop character (guard pattern).
  • A trailing quiet zone.

The two guard patterns used by the UPC-E symbol are typically longer than the surrounding bars. This creates a small “notch” under the barcode which is often used to print human-readable text. The guard patterns always follow a specific format:

  • Start character — narrow bar, narrow space, narrow bar
  • Stop character — narrow space, narrow bar, narrow space, narrow bar, narrow space

UPC-E barcodes only encode numeric digits 0-9 and also use a check digit based on the modulo 10 (mod 10) algorithm. They can also be paired with two- or five-digit add-on symbols that appear to the right of the original barcode and are used to denote specific pricing or date information.

Common Use Cases

UPC-E barcodes are commonly used on retail products that are too small to support standard UPC-A formats.

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