There are three sensible ways to print barcode labels — office printer + label sheets, a thermal label printer, or professional printing — and one setting that ruins all three when you miss it: print at 100% / Actual size.
For up to a few hundred labels, die-cut sheets (Avery 5160, L7160 and similar) on an ordinary printer are the cheapest route. Generate a label-sheet PDF rather than fighting a word-processor template: our generator's Label sheet mode places each code at exact millimetre positions for the major Avery layouts, supports a start-cell offset so you can resume a partly used sheet, and adds crop marks. Laser printers beat inkjets here — toner doesn't bleed on glossy label stock.
For ongoing volume (shipping, retail tags), a thermal printer (Zebra, Rollo, Dymo) prints one label at a time from a roll. Two technologies: direct thermal (no ink; the label darkens with heat — cheap, but fades in months and in sunlight) and thermal transfer (ribbon; durable for years). Use direct thermal for shipping labels, transfer for asset tags and anything long-lived. Our roll templates (4×6", 3×2", 2×1", 1×1") output one label per PDF page at exact media size — the format these printers expect.
For product packaging, the barcode goes into the artwork file you send to the printer. Always supply SVG or PDF vector, never a screenshot or low-res PNG; ask the printer about expected ink gain and apply Bar Width Reduction accordingly; and keep the symbol within the 80–200% magnification range covered in our size guide.
① Print dialog: Actual size / 100%, never "Fit to page" — fit-scaling is the top cause of labels missing their die-cuts. ② Highest quality mode. ③ Test page one: print a single sheet, scan three labels with a phone and a laser scanner if you have one. ④ Storage: keep direct-thermal labels away from heat and sun.