What is a UPC-A?
Developed by IBM in 1971, the UPC-A barcode is a subset of the EAN (European Article Numbering ) system. Initially designed for the grocery industry, the UPC-A barcode is found on almost every consumer good packaging today. You can find these barcodes on everything from books, newspapers, and magazines to the shelves of a local supermarket. In the United States, it is also called the standard retail 'price code' barcode. Other names include POS products barcode and consumer goods barcode.
The UPC-A barcode encodes 11 digits of product information data and a trailing check digit for 12 digits of barcode data. The 11 product digits can be divided into three logical categories:
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The first digit indicates the information regarding the product type.
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The following five digits include information about the product manufacturer.
- The remaining five digits contain information about the particular product being encoded.
Below is an example of the typical UPC-A barcode is:
Where is a UPC-A used?
The UPC-A barcode is extensively used worldwide for scanning trade items at the POS (point of sale).
Industry
How could Dynamsoft help you with UPC-A?
Dynamsoft barcode reader enables you to efficiently embed high-speed and reliable barcode reading functionality in your web, desktop or mobile application using just a few lines of code.
Download the free trial SDK, explore our helpful resource center including sample codes, tutorials, guides and more to get started.