Variable Measure Barcode Decoder
A deli, produce or butcher scale prints an EAN-13 that starts 02 or 20–29 with the price or weight written inside the number. Paste it here to see the item reference, the embedded amount and whether the price check digit is right — under every national scheme that uses that prefix, because the same thirteen digits mean different things in different countries. Or go the other way and build the number your scale should print.
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Decode a number
Build a number (price check digit calculator)
For configuring a scale or a label printer: pick the scheme, give the item reference and the price or weight, and get the complete number with the verifier digit and the check digit — every weighted product shown, so the calculation can be checked against the standard.
Why a check digit calculator cannot do this
Every free barcode calculator computes the last digit — the mod-10 check digit that every GTIN has. A price-embedded number carries a second check digit in the middle: the price verifier, calculated from the price digits alone with the GS1 weighting factors 2−, 3, 5+ and 5−. A four-digit price field uses the factors 2−, 2−, 3, 5−, adds the products and multiplies by three; a five-digit field uses 5+, 2−, 5−, 5+, 2−, takes the complement to ten and looks the result up in the 5− table. The standard’s own worked examples — 2875 → 9 and 14685 → 6 — are regression tests here.
Which country’s layout?
GS1 only fixes the frame: prefixes 02 and 20–29 are Restricted Circulation Numbers, assigned by each member organisation, and Table 2-29 of the General Specifications merely recommends four layouts. What the digits after the prefix mean is decided nationally — which is why this tool carries each scheme from its member organisation’s own document rather than from a forum post:
- GS1 US (North America) — prefix 02 · 5-digit item reference · verifier · 4-digit price · GS1 General Specifications §2.1.12.2 (first row: the structure specified by GS1 US) ↗
- GS1 UK — branded variable measure — prefix 20, 28 · 5-digit item reference · verifier · 4-digit price · GS1 UK — How to barcode variable measure items ↗
- GS1 UK — in-store — prefix 02 · 4-digit item reference · verifier · 5-digit field · GS1 UK — How to barcode variable measure items ↗
- GS1 Australia (VMN-13) — prefix 22, 24, 28, 29 · 4-digit item reference · verifier · 5-digit field · GS1 Australia — Retail Point-Of-Sale variable measure Fact Sheet (Aug 2023) ↗
- GS1 Germany (Spezialcode) — prefix 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29 · 4-digit item reference · verifier · 5-digit field · GS1 Germany — GTIN in der Anwendung v1.1, Tabelle 8 & 9 ↗
- GS1 Sweden (Restricted Circulation Number) — prefix 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 · 6-digit item block · 4-digit value · no verifier · GS1 Sweden — How do I create my Restricted Circulation Numbers? ↗
- GS1 Greece (variable measure prefix) — prefix 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 · 5-digit item block · 5-digit value · no verifier · GS1 Greece — Barcoding Variable Measure Trade Items ↗
The same prefix appears in several of these lists — 22 is a five-digit Australian dollar price with a verifier and an integer Swedish krona price without one. So the decoder shows every documented reading for the prefix, puts the ones whose verifier digit checks out first, and lets you pin the territory when you know it. A scheme without a verifier can never be ruled out by the digits alone, and the result says so instead of hiding it.
What this tool does not do
It decodes numbers, not photographs of barcodes. It only knows the schemes listed above — for any other country, or a retailer’s private format, it shows the four GS1-recommended splits and stops there. The North American reading assumes two implied decimals because the standard leaves the decimal point to the trading partners; the UK, Australian and German two-decimal prices come from those organisations’ documents; the German weight and count fields are returned as raw digits because the guide gives no unit for them. And whatever it decodes, a Restricted Circulation Number is not a product GTIN: it cannot be listed on a marketplace, and it cannot be carried in a GS1-128 or 2D symbol with Application Identifiers.
Every check this tool runs (15 rules)
VMN-001 Not a 12- or 13-digit number
A variable-measure Restricted Circulation Number is an RCN-13 (EAN-13) or an RCN-12 (UPC-A). An RCN-8 has no room for a price or weight field, and anything that is not all digits cannot be decoded.
Fix: Paste the 13 digits under the EAN-13 (or the 12 under the UPC-A), digits only.
VMN-002 Check digit is wrong
The last digit is the standard mod-10 check digit over the twelve before it, exactly as for any GTIN. A scanner rejects the symbol before it ever looks at the price.
Fix: Recompute the last digit; if the number came from a scale, the scale is misconfigured.
VMN-003 Prefix is not a variable-measure range (02 or 20–29)
Only GS1 prefixes 02 and 20–29 are assigned by member organisations for variable-measure trade items. Any other prefix is an ordinary GTIN, a coupon or a publication number: nothing is embedded in it.
Fix: If you expected a price in this number, it was not printed by a scale with a variable-measure prefix.
VMN-004 Prefix 04 is a company-internal fixed-measure number
GS1 prefix 04 (UPC number system 4) is reserved for company-internal numbering of fixed-measure items. It is a Restricted Circulation Number, but GS1 defines no price or weight structure for it.
Fix: Look up the meaning of the digits with the company that assigned the number.
VMN-005 Price / measure verifier digit does not match the selected scheme
Under the selected national scheme the verifier digit is computed from the price or measure digits with the GS1 weighting factors 2−, 3, 5+ and 5−. A mismatch means the price was mis-encoded or the number is not written in this scheme.
Fix: Recompute the verifier from the price digits, or pick the scheme the label was actually printed under.
VMN-006 No verifier-bearing layout matches
Every layout with a verifier digit that fits this prefix gives a verifier different from the digit in the number. Either the number uses a layout without a verifier (Sweden, Greece and the GS1-recommended 20–29 layouts have none) or the price digits are wrong.
Fix: Pin the territory the label came from; if the scheme uses a verifier, the price field needs to be re-encoded.
VMN-007 Verifier digit is consistent with these schemes
The verifier digit in the number equals the one computed from the price digits under the listed scheme(s). Consistency is strong evidence for a layout but not proof — one digit in ten matches by chance.
VMN-008 12-digit UPC-A form normalised
A 12-digit number starting with 2 is an RCN-12 in UPC-A form (number system 2). Adding a leading zero gives the 13-digit form with prefix 02 that the layouts are defined on.
VMN-009 Embedded price or measure is zero
The price or measure field is all zeros. Labels come out like this when the scale prints before weighing or when a test label is scanned — nothing will be charged.
Fix: Re-weigh and reprint the label.
Source: yaktool engineering rule: not from the GS1 General Specifications, which permit any digits in the field.
VMN-010 Restricted circulation — not a marketplace GTIN
Restricted Circulation Numbers are only meaningful inside the store, company or territory that assigned them and shall not be used in open environments. They cannot be listed as a product GTIN on Amazon, Google Shopping or any other marketplace, and they cannot be carried in a GS1-128 or 2D symbol with Application Identifiers.
Fix: For an open-market listing the product needs a real GTIN; variable-measure data then travels in AI (310n)/(392n) next to it.
VMN-011 Prefix is used by several national schemes
Prefixes 20–29 are assigned independently by each GS1 member organisation, so the same two digits mean different things in different countries (22 is a five-digit price with a verifier in Australia and an integer krona price in Sweden). The readings shown side by side are the documented ones.
Fix: Pin the territory the label was printed in.
VMN-012 Item reference has the wrong number of digits
Each layout fixes how many digits the item reference takes (five with a four-digit price field, four with a five-digit one, six or five without a verifier). A longer or shorter reference shifts every field after it.
Fix: Pad the item reference with leading zeros or shorten it to the length the scheme uses.
VMN-013 Value does not fit the field
A four-digit price field with two implied decimals tops out at 99.99, a five-digit one at 999.99, a five-digit gram field at 99999 g. Anything larger cannot be encoded without a different prefix or layout.
Fix: Use the layout with the larger field, or a different unit of measure, or split the item.
VMN-014 More decimals than the implied decimal point allows
The decimal point is not in the barcode; the scheme fixes how many decimals the field carries. A value with more decimals would be silently rounded by the scale and the customer charged a different amount.
Fix: Round the value to the number of decimals the scheme allows before encoding.
VMN-015 Prefix is not used by the selected scheme
Each national scheme uses specific prefixes, and where the prefix decides the meaning of the field (Sweden: 20–22 price, 23–25 weight; Germany: 22/23 price, 25/26 count, 28/29 weight) it has to be given.
Fix: Choose one of the prefixes the scheme documents.
About these rules. Each one has an identifier, a severity and a plain-English explanation. Every source link is registered and re-checked against the live page rather than linked from memory. How rules are written, tested and kept current →