MAC Address Barcode Decoder

Extract and validate MAC addresses from network equipment barcodes

Our free MAC address barcode decoder reads network hardware addresses from equipment labels and normalises common representations such as 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E. A standard 48-bit MAC address has 12 hexadecimal digits; its leading bits can indicate an assigned address block, although locally administered addresses may not identify a vendor.

Need to decode MAC barcodes in your app?

Copy the example below to get started using our free Barcode Parser API. No API key needed.

cURL Node.js Python C# Go PHP Java HTML

barcode=$'3C:5A:B4:12:34:56'
curl -sS -G https://parser.orcascan.com/ \
    --data-urlencode "barcode=$barcode" \
    --data-urlencode 'type=mac'

// Node.js 18+
var barcode = "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56";
var url = "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" + encodeURIComponent(barcode) + "&type=mac";

fetch(url)
    .then(function(res) { return res.json(); })
    .then(console.log);

import json
from urllib.parse import quote
from urllib.request import urlopen

barcode = "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56"
url = "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" + quote(barcode, safe="") + "&type=mac"

with urlopen(url) as response:
    print(json.load(response))

using System;
using System.Net.Http;

var barcode = "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56";
var url = "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" + Uri.EscapeDataString(barcode) + "&type=mac";

using var client = new HttpClient();
Console.WriteLine(await client.GetStringAsync(url));

package main

import (
    "io"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    barcode := "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56"
    endpoint := "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" + url.QueryEscape(barcode) + "&type=mac"
    res, err := http.Get(endpoint)
    if err != nil { panic(err) }
    defer res.Body.Close()
    io.Copy(os.Stdout, res.Body)
}

<?php
$barcode = "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56";
$url = "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" . rawurlencode($barcode) . "&type=mac";

echo file_get_contents($url);

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.net.http.*;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

class BarcodeParser {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String barcode = "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56";
        String url = "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" +
            URLEncoder.encode(barcode, StandardCharsets.UTF_8) + "&type=mac";
        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder(URI.create(url)).build();
        var response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(
            request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

<!doctype html>
<html>
<body>
<pre id="result">Loading...</pre>
<script>
var barcode = "3C:5A:B4:12:34:56";
var url = "https://parser.orcascan.com/?barcode=" + encodeURIComponent(barcode) + "&type=mac";
fetch(url)
    .then(function(res) { return res.json(); })
    .then(function(json) {
        document.getElementById("result").textContent = JSON.stringify(json, null, 2);
    });
</script>
</body>
</html>

Need to decode lots of MAC barcodes?

Import a spreadsheet of barcodes and automatically extract their data into separate columns.

Decode barcodes in bulk →

Need to extract MAC data as you scan?

Scan barcodes with your phone and automatically capture their data in a shared spreadsheet.

Scan with your phone →

Frequently asked questions

How many digits are in a MAC address?

An EUI-48 address contains 48 bits, normally written as 12 hexadecimal digits, often split into six pairs such as 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E.

Can MAC addresses use colons, hyphens or dots?

Yes. The same 48-bit address may be written as six colon-separated pairs, six hyphen-separated pairs or three groups of four hexadecimal digits. A parser can normalise these forms.

What do the first-octet bits of a MAC address mean?

The two least-significant bits of the first octet indicate individual versus group addressing and universally versus locally administered addressing.

Need help tracking MAC barcodes?

We've helped organizations of all sizes tackle barcode challenges, chat with our team live for help to find a solution.