What is a GS1 Digital Link?
The short version: it's a web address, built to a standard format, that goes inside a barcode. One code, two jobs. It scans at a checkout register and it opens a page on a phone.
Last checked Aug 2026.
The problem it solves
A traditional barcode, the black-and-white stripes on almost everything you buy, only holds a number: your GTIN (your product's barcode number, usually printed underneath it). A checkout scanner reads that number and looks up your price and product name in the store's own database. That's it. The barcode can't take a customer anywhere, because it holds a number, not a web address.
A QR-style barcode can hold a full web address. So the obvious idea is: put your product page's URL in a QR code instead. The catch is that if every brand invents its own URL shape, a checkout scanner has no reliable way to find the GTIN inside it. It sees a generic web address. GS1 Digital Link is the fix: a standard way to build that web address so the GTIN is always in the same, predictable place inside it.
What it actually looks like
A GS1 Digital Link URI looks like this:
https://id.yourbrand.com/01/00614141123452
The domain (id.yourbrand.com) can be anyone's. That's deliberate, more on that below. The part that's standardized is /01/00614141123452: the 01 is GS1's code for "what follows is a GTIN," and 00614141123452 is the GTIN itself, written in its full 14-digit form. A checkout scanner reads the number for pricing, the same way it always has. A phone camera opens the whole address as a link, landing on whatever page the brand has pointed it to. One code, both jobs.
The format can carry more than the product number. A batch or lot code, an expiry date, or a serial number each get their own standardized slot after the GTIN. Codestamp supports batch and lot codes on the Growth plan. Most brands never need more than the base GTIN link.
Your existing barcode number still works
If you already have a UPC or EAN barcode, you already have a GTIN. You don't need to buy a new number to use a GS1 Digital Link. A 12-digit UPC becomes a 14-digit GTIN by adding two leading zeros (so UPC 614141123452 becomes GTIN 00614141123452). Same number, standard 14-digit form. If you don't have a GTIN yet, see our guide to buying one.
Why the domain is yours
GS1 Digital Link is domain-agnostic by design: the standard defines the path structure (the /01/… part) and leaves the domain to you. GS1 runs a free shared resolver at id.gs1.org and publishes the resolver software as open source for brands that want to host their own. Codestamp gives you the third option: a resolver on your own domain, with your brand's name on every link a customer sees, and no server for you to run.
What "GS1-conformant" means
GS1 publishes the URI Syntax standard and a GS1-Conformant Resolver standard. Conformance to both is self-asserted: a tool built correctly to the published rules (correct GTIN padding, correct redirect codes, correct AI ordering) can honestly call itself "GS1-conformant." There is no certification body and no stamp of approval, so the useful question to ask any vendor, including us, is "show me the checks." Codestamp answers that with a Verify report on every code, so you can see exactly what was tested.
How Codestamp handles this
Where Codestamp fits on your label
You already own a barcode number and a UPC that scans. Keep both. Codestamp gives that same number a QR code that can do more, and nothing you paid for has to change.
Your GTIN
Your product's barcode number, bought once from GS1 ($30 for one number) and yours for good. We never sell numbers: yours is all you need.
Your UPC
The stripes every checkout reads today. It stays on your label and keeps working in 2027 and after. No rush, and no wasted labels.
Add Codestamp
Your number in a GS1-standard QR code, free on our domain or yours from $9/mo. Checked and scan-tested, so it works the first time.
Every scan
A phone opens your product page, or one we host. Newer checkouts read your GTIN. Change where it points anytime. The label stays put.
You could do it yourself. Here is what you get with us.
GS1 runs a free shared link service, and any QR generator can hold a web address. Codestamp builds the address to the GS1 format and scan-tests the code, so it is right every time. You get one place to change where every code points after printing, a hosted product page if you have none, and your own name on the code from $9/mo. Your first 3 products are free on our shared domain.
Free for your first 3 products. No credit card, no time limit.