ZPL guides

Step-by-step guides for working with ZPL labels: converting them from code, choosing the print density, and printing without a Zebra printer. Every guide has code you can copy and the label it produces.

10 pages

Convert from code

Convert ZPL to PDF in Python To convert ZPL to PDF from Python, POST the ZPL to the OpenZPL render endpoint with `Accept: application/pdf` and save the response bytes. Set the label size and …

Convert ZPL to PDF in Node.js To convert ZPL to PDF in Node.js, send the ZPL with `fetch` as the body of a POST to the OpenZPL render endpoint, with `Accept: application/pdf`, and stream …

Convert ZPL to PDF in PHP To convert ZPL to PDF in PHP, POST the ZPL with cURL to the OpenZPL render endpoint with the header `Accept: application/pdf` and write the response to a …

Convert ZPL to PDF in C# To convert ZPL to PDF in C#, post the ZPL as `StringContent` with `HttpClient` to the OpenZPL render endpoint, ask for `application/pdf`, and copy the response stream to …

Put several ZPL labels in one PDF Send all the labels in one request, as consecutive `^XA` … `^XZ` blocks, with `Accept: application/pdf` and no label index in the URL: the API returns one PDF …

Basics

What is ZPL? ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) is the text command language that Zebra and compatible thermal printers use to draw labels. A ZPL label is plain text: commands that start …

Open a ZPL file A ZPL file is plain text, so any text editor opens it, but you only see the commands. To see the label, open the file in a ZPL …

Print ZPL without a Zebra printer To print a ZPL label on a printer that doesn't understand ZPL, convert it to PDF and print the PDF. The OpenZPL converter does it in the browser; …

Print quality

ZPL at 203 dpi vs 300 dpi ZPL coordinates are in dots, so the same ZPL prints about a third smaller on a 300 dpi printer than on a 203 dpi one: 12 dots per …

Add an image to a ZPL label To put an image on a ZPL label, convert it to black and white and send it with `^GF` as a field: the image's bytes in hexadecimal (or …