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Utilerio

ZPL Viewer

Paste Zebra ZPL code and see the rendered label instantly.

Match the DPI of the printer the label is meant for.

Label preview

Paste ZPL on the left and press Render to see the label here.

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About this tool

ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) is the command language Zebra thermal printers speak. A label is a plain-text block that starts with ^XA and ends with ^XZ, and everything between those two markers positions text, boxes, barcodes and images on the media.

Because ZPL is text, you cannot tell what a label looks like by reading it — and printing a test label to find out wastes stock and time. This viewer renders the code the same way a printer would, so you can check placement, overflow and barcode content before anything reaches the printer.

How to use it

  1. Paste your ZPL into the editor, or upload a .zpl or .txt file exported from your label software.
  2. Set the print density to match your printer: 203 dpi (8 dots/mm) is the most common, 300 dpi for finer text, 600 dpi for very small labels.
  3. Enter the physical label size in inches. A 4×6 shipping label and a 2×1 product label render very differently from the same code.
  4. Press Render. If the file contains several ^XA … ^XZ blocks, use the arrows to step through them.
  5. Download the preview as PNG when you need to attach it to a ticket or send it to a supplier.

Examples

A label with text and a Code 128 barcode

^FO positions a field, ^A0N sets the font height, ^BY sets the bar width and ^BCN draws a Code 128 barcode with its value printed underneath.

^XA
^FO50,50
^A0N,40,40
^FDHello World^FS
^FO50,120
^BY2
^BCN,100,Y,N,N
^FD123456789^FS
^XZ

Common problems

The preview is blank.
The code almost certainly has no complete ^XA … ^XZ pair. Label software sometimes exports a fragment; make sure you copied the whole block including the closing ^XZ.
Fields are cut off at the edge.
The label size or density does not match the code. ^FO coordinates are in dots, so 400 dots is 2 inches at 203 dpi but only 1.33 inches at 300 dpi. Change the density before you change the code.
Turkish or accented characters render as boxes.
Add ^CI28 near the start of the label to switch the printer into UTF-8, and make sure the font you select supports the characters.

Frequently asked questions

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