From a barcode number to the address your QR code should hold
Enter the product's barcode number and your own domain. You get the GS1 Digital Link address for the 2D code on your pack, the code itself, how wide it prints, and the rule to add on your server so it opens the right page.
- NoteGTIN-13 (EAN-13), written as 14 digits with 1 zero in front. That's the only form allowed in the address.
Batch, serial number or date (only if each batch or item gets its own code)
The checks run in your browser. To draw the code, the finished address is sent to our QR image address; it isn't saved.
https://id.example.com/01/09524000059109
(01)0952400005910940 characters make a 29 × 29 grid (version 3). Printed at the square sizes GS1 sets for a code read at a shop checkout:
| One square | Code | With blank margin |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest, 0.396 mm | 11.5 mm | 14.7 mm |
| Target, 0.495 mm | 14.4 mm | 18.3 mm |
| Largest, 0.990 mm | 28.7 mm | 36.6 mm |
The margin is 4 squares on every side and has to stay empty. Aim for 0.495 mm squares; go smaller only if your printer holds an edge that fine.
Make the address open your page
The address in the code isn't a page. It forwards to one, so you can move the page later without reprinting. One rule covers every code for this product, with or without a batch or serial number after it.
# In the server block for id.example.com
location ~ ^/01/09524000059109(/|$) {
return 302 https://www.example.com/your-product-page;
}It's a 302 on purpose: browsers may remember a 301 and skip your rule the next time, which is the opposite of what you want from a destination you plan to change. Test the rule on a staging copy before it goes on the live server.
What the address is made of
A GS1 Digital Link is an ordinary web address with the product number in a fixed place. A phone opens it like any link. A checkout scanner that reads 2D codes ignores the domain, finds /01/ and reads the 14 digits after it, so one code can do the job of the barcode and of the marketing QR code.
- The product number is always 14 digits. A 13-digit EAN gets one zero in front, a 12-digit UPC two, an 8-digit EAN six. The last digit is a check digit worked out from the others; this page refuses a number where it doesn't match.
- Order matters. Batch (
/10/) comes before serial number (/21/), both after the product number. Dates go after a?as six digits, year first. - Any domain is allowed, so use one you own. No slash at the end, and nothing extra: campaign tags belong in the forwarding rule, where they don't make the code bigger.
This page builds the address and checks its shape. It can't tell whether the number is licensed to you (your GS1 office can), and whether a shop's checkouts read 2D codes yet is the retailer's call, so keep the striped barcode until they say otherwise. Before the print order, read our guide to QR codes on packaging, then scan the artwork with the QR checker to see that it holds this address and not a generator's. For a poster or a flyer, where scan distance decides the size, use the print size calculator.