ISBN Barcode Generator
The barcode on the back of a book is an EAN-13 carrying the book's ISBN — the "Bookland EAN". Paste an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13, hyphens or not: the tool verifies its check character, converts ISBN-10s to their 978 ISBN-13 form, shows you every number involved, and only then renders the barcode.
ISBN generator
Generated locally in your browser — nothing you type is transmitted or stored.
Bookland: how ISBNs became barcodes
Retail barcodes carry GTINs allocated under GS1 country prefixes — and books got their own fictional country. The prefixes 978 and 979 ("Bookland") are reserved for ISBNs, so any ISBN can live inside the worldwide EAN-13 system without each publisher licensing a GS1 prefix. That is the whole trick: the symbol on a book cover is an ordinary EAN-13 whose first three digits say "this is an ISBN".
The conversion, worked by this site's engine
ISBN-10 0306406152 (check character 2, verified by the mod-11 rule)
→ ISBN-13 9780306406157: prefix 978 + data digits 030640615 + recomputed
EAN-13 check digit 7
Computed at build time by the same tested code that runs in your browser — the page cannot show a conversion the engine would not produce.
The two check systems are genuinely different mathematics. ISBN-10 weights its ten characters 10, 9, 8, … 2, 1 and requires the sum to divide by 11 — that stronger modulus catches every adjacent transposition, at the price of sometimes needing the digit "ten", written X. EAN-13 weights alternate 1 and 3 with a modulus of 10. So when 978 is prefixed, the old check character is dropped and a new one computed; the tool never carries a check digit across the conversion.
Both directions, honestly
Every 978 ISBN-13 has an ISBN-10 form, and when you enter one the tool shows it. A 979 ISBN-13 has none — the ISBN-10 system predates 979 — and the tool states that instead of manufacturing an invalid number. Likewise, a 13-digit input that does not begin with 978 or 979 is not an ISBN at all; you will be pointed to the EAN-13 generator rather than have it quietly encoded as a "book".
ISBN barcode FAQ
Can I enter an ISBN-10, or do I need the ISBN-13?
Either, with or without hyphens. An ISBN-10 is verified against its own mod-11 check character, then converted: 978 prefix, your nine data digits, and a freshly computed EAN-13 check digit. The tool shows both numbers so you can see exactly what was encoded.
Why did the last digit change during conversion?
Because the two check systems are different. ISBN-10 uses a mod-11 check (which is why some ISBN-10s end in X); EAN-13 uses a mod-10 check over 12 digits including the new 978 prefix. Same book, same core nine digits, different final digit.
What does an X at the end of an ISBN-10 mean?
The mod-11 check can come out to ten, and a single digit cannot say "ten" — so the roman numeral X stands in. Only the final position can be X. Its ISBN-13 form has no X, because mod-10 checks never exceed nine.
Where do ISBNs come from — GS1?
No — ISBNs are issued by national ISBN agencies (in the US, Bowker; in the UK and Ireland, Nielsen). The 978/979 "Bookland" prefixes are how the ISBN system lives inside the EAN numbering space without each publisher needing a GS1 license. You still cannot invent an ISBN: registration is what connects the number to your book in the supply chain.
What about the price add-on barcode next to the ISBN?
Book covers often carry a small 5-digit add-on (EAN-5) encoding the price alongside the main symbol. This tool generates the main Bookland EAN only, and says so rather than approximating the add-on — if your retailer requires one, your printer or distributor will add it.
Verify before production: test the downloaded barcode with a scanner before it goes on a cover — this tool verifies the arithmetic, not your print run. Everything runs locally in your browser; details on the methodology page.