Creating Barcodes in Python!

Barcode generation can be easily automated using the python-barcode library.

First, install the library itself and the dependency for image generation:

pip install python-barcode pillow

The Pillow library is used to save in PNG format via ImageWriter.

Import the main module and writer for working with images:

import barcode
from barcode.writer import ImageWriter

Let's create an EAN-13 barcode. Important: exactly 12 digits are passed, and the check digit is automatically calculated and added.

ean = barcode.get(
    "ean13",
    "590123412345",
    writer=ImageWriter()
)

Save it to disk:

filename = ean.save("product_barcode")
print(filename)

As a result, the product_barcode.png file will be created in the current directory.

Generating several barcodes: a common scenario is generating a series of barcodes, for example for a list of products or database records:

codes = [
    "123456789012",
    "987654321098",
    "111222333444"
]

for value in codes:
    code_obj = barcode.get(
        "ean13",
        value,
        writer=ImageWriter()
    )
    code_obj.save(f"barcode_{value}")

Here, it's also important to comply with the format requirement: 12 digits for EAN-13, otherwise the library will throw an exception.

If you need to encode arbitrary strings (order numbers, documents), it's more convenient to use Code128:

code128 = barcode.get(
    "code128",
    "ORDER-2025-001",
    writer=ImageWriter()
)

code128.save("order_barcode")

This format is not limited to numbers and is widely used in logistics and document management.

In practice, generation is often outsourced to a function - for reuse in services or APIs:

def generate_barcode(value, filename):
    code = barcode.get(
        "code128",
        value,
        writer=ImageWriter()
    )
    return code.save(filename)

generate_barcode("INVOICE-4587", "invoice_4587")

🔥 This approach is convenient to scale and supplement with logic (validation, writer settings, saving paths in the database, etc.).

👉 @DataScience4

This channels is for Programmers, Coders, Software Engineers.

0️⃣ Python
1️⃣ Data Science
2️⃣ Machine Learning
3️⃣ Data Visualization
4️⃣ Artificial Intelligence
5️⃣ Data Analysis
6️⃣ Statistics
7️⃣ Deep Learning
8️⃣ programming Languages

✅ https://t.me/addlist/8_rRW2scgfRhOTc0

✅ https://t.me/Codeprogrammer

Learn Python with the University of Helsinki

✓ With an official certificate
✓ From zero to advanced level
✓ 14 parts with practical tasks

All content is available → here
https://programming-25.mooc.fi/

👉 @codeprogrammer

🔰 Python String Methods