Barcode Reader

About this tool

Drop one or more pictures onto the page, paste one from the clipboard, or press Scan with the camera, and the barcodes found are listed with their type and their text, which you can copy. It reads Code 128, Code 39, Code 93, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, Interleaved 2 of 5, Codabar, GS1 DataBar, and the 2D codes QR, Micro QR, Data Matrix, Aztec, PDF417 and MaxiCode, in any orientation and also when the colours are inverted. The reading is done by zxing-cpp, the C++ library behind ZXing, compiled to WebAssembly and loaded from this site, so your pictures and camera images never leave your device. We tested the reader on barcodes made by our barcode generator, of every type the library can read, with random contents and several bar widths, and in a browser by passing the generator's PNG files to this page: the text read always matched. Photos taken at an angle, blurred, glossy or with a code that is only partly visible can fail: crop close to the code, keep it flat and sharp, and keep its blank margins in the picture. A readable code does not prove that its content is genuine or safe: check a link before you open it. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

How to use it

1. Drop a picture, paste one, or press Scan with the camera.
2. Read the type and text of each code.
3. Copy the text you need.

Common problems

No barcode was found

Crop the picture close to the code, make sure it is sharp and flat, and keep the blank margin around it. For a blurry code, take a new photo in better light.

The camera does not start

Allow camera access for this site in your browser. On a computer without a camera, use a picture instead.

The text looks like nonsense

Some codes hold binary data or a standard format such as GS1, where the text has control characters. The reader shows what it found.