# EAN Add-on (EAN-2, EAN-5) > Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/ean-add-on > research date 2026-10-03 · extracted at 2026-10-03 > Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards Specifications: - [BISG — Barcoding Guidelines for the U.S. Book Industry (rev. Aug 2025)](https://www.bisg.org/barcoding-guidelines-for-the-us-book-industry) - [BWIPP — EAN-5 (references ISO/IEC 15420, GS1 General Specifications)](https://github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode/wiki/EAN-5) - [BWIPP — EAN-2](https://github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode/wiki/EAN-2) ## Overview The **EAN add-on** (also called the UPC/EAN supplement) is a small 2- or 5-digit barcode printed immediately to the right of a main [EAN-13](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/ean-13), [UPC-A](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upc-a) or [UPC-E](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upc-e) symbol and processed together with it rather than on its own [4][4][5][5]. The **EAN-2** (two-digit add-on, "UPC-2") is used on magazines and periodicals to carry an issue number [2][2][6][6]; the **EAN-5** (five-digit add-on) is used on books to carry a suggested retail price [1][1][3][3]. Both are specified as part of the EAN/UPC family in ISO/IEC 15420 and the GS1 General Specifications [5][5][6][6]. ## History The add-on symbols are documented in Appendix D of the *U.P.C. Symbol Specification Manual*, which Wikipedia cites as the authoritative source for EAN-2 [2][2]. Their best-known deployment grew out of the book trade: in **1980** agreement was reached to assign the EAN prefixes 978 and 979 to "Bookland" for encoding ISBNs, and the [Bookland EAN (ISBN)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bookland-ean) symbol may be followed by a five-digit price add-on [3][3]. The US Book Industry Study Group (BISG) continues to maintain the price-add-on conventions, with its barcoding guidelines revised between 2021 and 2025 and last updated in **August 2025** [3][3]. ## Technical specification **Shared structure.** Both supplements start with the guard pattern `01011` and separate consecutive digits with the delineator `01`; there is no end guard [1][1][2][2]. Digits are drawn only from the EAN **L-code** (odd parity) and **G-code** (even parity) tables — the R-code set used on the right half of EAN-13 is not used [2][2]. The add-on has no explicit check digit; error detection is carried by the L/G parity pattern [1][1][2][2]. ZXing locates the supplement by the start pattern `1,1,2` (module widths) [7][7]. **EAN-2 (2 digits).** The two digits are treated as one number 00–99; the value **mod 4** selects the parity pattern (0 → LL, 1 → LG, 2 → GL, 3 → GG) [2][2]. Example from the source: encoding `53` gives start `01011`, digit 5 from the L table (`0110001`), separator `01`, digit 3 from the G table (`0100001`) [2][2]. **EAN-5 (5 digits).** A checksum is computed by multiplying the digits alternately by 3 and 9 (positions 1, 3, 5 by 3; positions 2, 4 by 9), summing, and taking the result mod 10 [1][1][8][8]. That checksum selects one of ten parity patterns [1][1]: | Checksum | Parity | Checksum | Parity | |---|---|---|---| | 0 | GGLLL | 5 | LLGGL | | 1 | GLGLL | 6 | LLLGG | | 2 | GLLGL | 7 | LGLGL | | 3 | GLLLG | 8 | LGLLG | | 4 | LGGLL | 9 | LLGLG | Worked example (the playground sample): `52495` → 5·3 + 2·9 + 4·3 + 9·9 + 5·3 = 141 → checksum 1 → pattern **GLGLL**; in the US book convention this reads as a suggested price of US$24.95 [1][1][3][3]. **Data semantics — EAN-5 book price.** The leading digit is a currency indicator. Under BISG rules, `5` plus four digits encodes US$0.01–99.98; prices US$100.00–499.99 use `10000`–`49999` without a currency prefix; `59999` means "price not encoded, understood to exceed US$99.98" (US$99.99 cannot be encoded); `90000` means no cover price / no price encoded and is ignored for pricing; `60000`–`89999` have no assigned meaning; `90000`–`99999` are reserved for industry-wide use, with `99990`–`99999` assigned to the National Association of College Stores (`99990` used books, `99991` desk copies) [3][3]. Wikipedia additionally lists `0`/`1` = British pounds, `3` = Australian, `4` = New Zealand and `6` = Canadian dollars [1][1]. ZXing's decoder maps `0` → £, `5` → $, treats `90000` as "no suggested retail price", `99991` as complimentary (0.00) and `99990` as used [8][8]. **Data semantics — EAN-2 issue number.** Combined with an [ISSN](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/issn)-based EAN-13 (977 prefix), the two-digit add-on carries the issue: typically the month number for monthly magazines and the week number for newspapers [4][4][9][9]. **Encoder notes.** bwip-js / BWIPP expose the supplements as the standalone bcids **`ean5`** and **`ean2`** (exactly five or two digits, options `includetext`, `guardwhitespace`), but discourage standalone use: the preferred practice is to append the add-on to the main symbol's data, e.g. `0317-8471 03 17` for an ISSN with sequence variant and issue [5][5][6][6]. BWIPP notes that five-digit add-on use with [EAN-8](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/ean-8) is not standardised [5][5]. ## Use cases - **Book trade (price).** The EAN-5 price extension follows the [Bookland EAN (ISBN)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bookland-ean) ISBN symbol; BISG notes the add-on is optional but some publishers and retailers require it, and recommends consulting trading partners before dropping it [3][3]. - **College stores (used / desk copies).** The NACS-reserved values `99990` and `99991` flag used books and desk copies in North American college bookstores [3][3][8][8]. - **Magazines and newspapers (issue).** The EAN-2 issue add-on on 977-prefixed periodicals lets wholesalers track sales and returns per issue; GS1 states it is not intended for retail point-of-sale scanning but for distribution returns, so retailers receive accurate credit [4][4]. - **UK newstrade.** The Professional Publishers Association's barcode best-practice guide documents the 977 EAN-13 plus 2-digit add-on for UK periodical distribution, noting that scanners must be specifically configured to capture the add-on [9][9]. - **Other publication identifiers.** BWIPP lists [ISMN](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/ismn) (printed music) alongside ISBN and ISSN as primary symbols with which EAN-2/EAN-5 supplements are used [5][5][6][6]. ## Implementations - **[zxing/zxing](https://github.com/zxing/zxing)** — Java, ~34.1k stars, active 2026-09. Decoder: `UPCEANExtensionSupport` tries a 5-digit and then a 2-digit extension after the main EAN/UPC symbol [7][7]; `UPCEANExtension5Support` parses the price into a currency-formatted string [8][8]. - **[metafloor/bwip-js](https://github.com/metafloor/bwip-js)** — JavaScript, ~2.4k stars, active 2026-08. Encoder port of BWIPP with `ean5` and `ean2` bcids [5][5][6][6][12][12]. This entry's playground renders via `bcid: "ean5"`. - **[lindell/JsBarcode](https://github.com/lindell/JsBarcode)** — JavaScript, ~5.9k stars, active 2026-06. Encoder; lists EAN-5 and EAN-2 under its EAN family [10][10]. - **[zxing-cpp/zxing-cpp](https://github.com/zxing-cpp/zxing-cpp)** — C++, ~2.0k stars, active 2026-09. Its format table lists EAN-5 and EAN-2 marked "write support only" [11][11]. Not every scanner library handles supplements: the ZBar README lists EAN-13/UPC-A, UPC-E and EAN-8 but no EAN-2/EAN-5 add-on [13][13]. ## Comparison - **EAN-2 vs. EAN-5:** EAN-2 derives its parity from the value mod 4 (four patterns) and carries short sequence data like an issue number; EAN-5 computes a weighted 3/9 checksum (ten patterns) and carries a five-digit value such as a price [1][1][2][2]. Choose EAN-2 for periodical issue tracking, EAN-5 for book pricing. - **Add-on vs. ISSN sequence number:** an ISSN-based EAN-13 already carries a two-digit sequence number inside the main symbol (BWIPP example `0317-8471 03 17`: sequence `03`, add-on `17`); the EAN-2 add-on sits outside the 13-digit identifier and, per GS1, is meant for distribution returns rather than POS scanning [4][4][6][6]. - **Add-on vs. GS1-128 / GS1 DataBar:** the add-on extends a legacy EAN/UPC symbol with only two or five digits of unstructured data; BWIPP's guidance is to treat the supplement as part of the primary symbol's data rather than as an independent barcode [5][5][6][6]. ## Fun facts US$99.99 is impossible to express in a US EAN-5 price add-on: `59999` is reserved to mean "price exceeds US$99.98", so the highest encodable US price under the `5` prefix is US$99.98 [3][3]. ## Status Active. BISG revised its US book-industry barcoding guidelines as recently as August 2025 and still defines the price add-on (while describing it as optional) [3][3]; GS1's support knowledge base documents current use of the 2-digit add-on for periodicals [4][4]; and major libraries (ZXing, bwip-js, JsBarcode, zxing-cpp) remain actively maintained with add-on support in 2026 [7][7][10][10][11][11][12][12]. Sources disagree on currency digits outside the US: Wikipedia lists `6` (CAD), `4` (NZD) and `3` (AUD) [1][1], whereas BISG states `60000`–`89999` currently have no assigned meaning [3][3]. ## Sources [1] [EAN-5 — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAN-5) — Wikipedia, accessed 2026. [2] [EAN-2 — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAN-2) — Wikipedia, accessed 2026. [3] [Barcoding Guidelines for the U.S. Book Industry](https://www.bisg.org/barcoding-guidelines-for-the-us-book-industry) — Book Industry Study Group, accessed 2026. [4] [What are the extra add-on barcodes for books?](https://support.gs1.org/support/solutions/articles/43000734089-what-are-the-extra-add-on-barcodes-for-books-) — GS1 Support, accessed 2026. [5] [EAN-5](https://github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode/wiki/EAN-5) — BWIPP wiki (GitHub), accessed 2026. [6] [EAN-2](https://github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode/wiki/EAN-2) — BWIPP wiki (GitHub), accessed 2026. [7] [UPCEANExtensionSupport.java](https://github.com/zxing/zxing/blob/master/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/oned/UPCEANExtensionSupport.java) — ZXing (GitHub), accessed 2026. [8] [UPCEANExtension5Support.java](https://github.com/zxing/zxing/blob/master/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/oned/UPCEANExtension5Support.java) — ZXing (GitHub), accessed 2026. [9] [PPA Best Practice for Bar Code Guidelines](https://ppa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/PPA_Best_Practice_for_Bar_Code_Guidelines.pdf) — Professional Publishers Association, accessed 2026. [10] [JsBarcode](https://github.com/lindell/JsBarcode) — GitHub (lindell/JsBarcode), accessed 2026. [11] [zxing-cpp](https://github.com/zxing-cpp/zxing-cpp) — GitHub (zxing-cpp/zxing-cpp), accessed 2026. [12] [bwip-js](https://github.com/metafloor/bwip-js) — GitHub (metafloor/bwip-js), accessed 2026. [13] [ZBar](https://github.com/mchehab/zbar) — GitHub (mchehab/zbar), accessed 2026. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAN-5 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAN-2 [3]: https://www.bisg.org/barcoding-guidelines-for-the-us-book-industry [4]: https://support.gs1.org/support/solutions/articles/43000734089-what-are-the-extra-add-on-barcodes-for-books- [5]: https://github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode/wiki/EAN-5 [6]: https://github.com/bwipp/postscriptbarcode/wiki/EAN-2 [7]: https://github.com/zxing/zxing/blob/master/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/oned/UPCEANExtensionSupport.java [8]: https://github.com/zxing/zxing/blob/master/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/oned/UPCEANExtension5Support.java [9]: https://ppa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/PPA_Best_Practice_for_Bar_Code_Guidelines.pdf [10]: https://github.com/lindell/JsBarcode [11]: https://github.com/zxing-cpp/zxing-cpp [12]: https://github.com/metafloor/bwip-js [13]: https://github.com/mchehab/zbar ## Deployments _No country reports mention this standard by name._ ## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country - Universal