Type your ISBN and download a barcode for your back cover. It’s free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser, so your ISBN isn’t sent anywhere.
Publishing on Amazon KDP? You may not need this. If you leave the barcode area of your back cover clear, KDP adds a barcode for free, and Amazon recommends that route. Use this tool if you want to place the barcode yourself, or if a printer has asked you to supply one.
Before you use it, check these digits match your book's ISBN exactly.
Which file should I use?
| File | Use it for | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| InDesign, Affinity, or a printer | Vector, in 100% black ink, with no fonts to embed. This is the closest match to KDP’s requirements. | |
| SVG | Design tools that accept vector files | Vector, but in screen colour. Set the black to 100% K in your design tool. |
| PNG | Tools that only take images | 600 × 360 pixels at 300 PPI. Don’t resize it, because that blurs the bars. Also in screen colour. |
All three are 2" × 1.2" (50.8 × 30.5 mm), and the barcode is a standard EAN-13, the type used on books. There is no price code in the barcode.
What KDP asks of your own barcode
From Amazon’s KDP Barcodes help page, read on 5 November 2026:
- Size: 2" × 1.2" is suggested. The minimum is 1.4" × 0.8", so don’t shrink it below 70%.
- Ink: 100% black, not RGB or CMYK colour and not registration black.
- Background: solid white.
- Position: at least 0.25" (6.3 mm) from the spine and the trim, right-side up and square to the cover.
- Quality: vector is preferred. Images should be 300 PPI, sharp and clear.
- Not flattened: the barcode can’t be flattened into the cover as a single image. If your design tool does that, leave the area clear and let KDP add the barcode.
- ISBN: it must be valid and match your book’s ISBN exactly.
KDP rejects a barcode its system can’t scan. If that happens, you can remove yours from the cover file and upload it again, and KDP will add one at no cost. Our barcode placement guide covers that error step by step.
If another printer asked for the barcode, check their specification too, because the rules differ.
Before you print
- Check the digits under the bars against your ISBN paperwork. A barcode can scan perfectly and still be the wrong number.
- Print a test at full size and scan it with a phone barcode app.
- Order a proof copy and scan the printed cover before you approve the book.
We tested this tool’s PDF, SVG and PNG files with two barcode-reading programs before publishing. That doesn’t replace testing your own print.
Related tools
- ISBN checker: check an ISBN and convert between ISBN-10 and ISBN-13.
- KDP cover calculator: get your full cover size and a template.
- ISBNs for UK authors: what an ISBN costs and when you need your own.
Would you rather we built the whole cover?
Our designers place the barcode correctly and check the file against Amazon's rules before you upload.
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