Bulk Code 128 barcode generator

A batch of Code 128 is where the symbology's own freedom turns into the main risk. Every row may legally hold a different length and a different mix of letters and digits, and the encoder will happily draw all of them — so a row with a stray space, a smart quote pasted from a document or a trailing tab produces a perfectly valid symbol carrying the wrong data. Nothing downstream will tell you: the scanner reads what is there.

One value per line. A single line of comma- or semicolon-separated values works too. A header row (like “Value”) counts as a value and will be rejected — leave it out.

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Appearance
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Enter a value — the code appears here.

Specification

Character set
letters and digits
Length
from 1 to 80 characters
Check digit
not used by this symbology

Need the specification and use cases first? What is Code 128?

Where this code earns its place in a batch

  • Internal logistics at scale: Code 128 packs more characters into less width than any other linear symbology in common use, so five hundred location or SKU labels fit stock that Code 39 would overflow.
  • Runs where the values are not all the same shape — a mix of digits, letters and punctuation across the list — because the encoder switches character sets per value without you configuring anything.
  • Anything internal rather than retail: no prefix to licence, no registry to pay, and every scanner made in the last thirty years reads it out of the box.

Preparing the list

  • Paste the list or load a CSV, then read the values in the field before generating — they are shown exactly as they will be encoded, spaces and all.
  • Keep one length across the batch when the labels share a layout: Code 128 width grows with the value, and a list mixing six and eighteen characters gives symbols of visibly different widths on the same sheet.
  • Decide on the character subset before printing: a batch of digits only is encoded in Code C, two digits per module pair, and adding a single letter to one row makes that symbol noticeably wider than its neighbours.

What goes wrong in a batch

  • Excel turns a value like 001234 into 1234 and a long digit string into scientific notation; export as text or prefix the cell with an apostrophe before saving the CSV.
  • A header row such as “SKU” or “Value” is a legal Code 128 value and will be encoded as a barcode rather than rejected — leave it out of the file.
  • Trailing spaces survive copy-paste from spreadsheets and are encoded silently; the symbol scans and returns a value that no longer matches the database row.

Frequently asked questions

How many codes can one batch hold?
A hundred values per run in the free generator. A longer list is truncated rather than refused, and the counter above the field tells you how many were taken, so nothing disappears silently.
Can the batch mix different lengths?
Yes — Code 128 has no fixed length, and the batch will build. The consequence is physical rather than technical: each symbol is as wide as its value needs, so a mixed list produces labels that do not line up in a grid.