![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/EAN-13-5901234123457.svg/langsimple-640px-EAN-13-5901234123457.svg.png&w=640&q=50)
European Article Number
standard describing a barcode symbology and numbering / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The European Article Number (often shortened to EAN) is a standard to encode product numbers. The EAN is a special case of a Global Trade Item Number. The EAN is made of either 8 or 13 digits (EAN-8, and EAN-13). In many cases, the EAN allows to uniquely identify the item. Most of the time, the EAN is printed on the packaging of a product. Special scanners are able to decode these numbers. They then look up the product-specific data (such as the price) and print it on the bill, for exampe.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/EAN-13-5901234123457.svg/220px-EAN-13-5901234123457.svg.png)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Barcode_EAN_8.gif/220px-Barcode_EAN_8.gif)
Note that the EAN is often encoded using a barcode (such as the ones in the example), but this does not have to be thecase. There are other machine-readable codes which can also be used.