EPL to ZPL

The LP2844s are being retired and the replacements only speak ZPL. Rather than redrawing every template, paste the EPL here: LabelZoom interprets the Eltron commands — A text, B barcodes, LO/LE lines, GW graphics — into its label model and writes them back out as native, editable ZPL II that a GK, GX, ZD or ZT-series printer accepts as-is.

Need to see the EPL first? EPL viewer. Archiving it? EPL to PDF. Other migrations: TSPL to ZPL, DPL to ZPL.

Preview: LabelZoom’s EPL reader is newer than our ZPL engine and still improving. Compare the converted ZPL against a known-good print before rolling a template out. If something doesn’t match, let us know — reports go straight into what we fix next.

Paste your EPL code

Note on Watermarks: Free online conversions include a LabelZoom watermark. Need to remove watermarks for production, or process thousands of labels per minute? Check out our REST API subscriptions

Native ZPL fields, not a bitmap of the old label — edit the result like any ZPL.

Barcodes stay barcodes: EPL B commands become ^BC, ^B3 and friends.

One template for a mixed fleet while the EPL printers are phased out.

How to convert EPL to ZPL

  1. 1

    Paste the EPL template above, or upload the file — safer when it carries GW graphics, whose binary bytes a clipboard can mangle. A ZIP of templates converts each one.

  2. 2

    Leave the density at 203 dpi (the EPL was written for a 203 dpi printer) and set the label size. If the new printer is 300 dpi, convert at 203 and let the printer's ^JM or driver scaling handle it, or ask the API for a re-rendered 300 dpi version.

  3. 3

    Click Quick Convert, then copy the ZPL, download it, or send it straight to a connected Zebra. Open it in the ZPL editor to fine-tune fonts.

How EPL commands map to ZPL

The converter works at the object level, so each EPL element becomes the ZPL command that means the same thing.

EPLBecomes ZPLNotes
N … P1^XA … ^XZLabel start and end; print quantity carried over
q, Q^PW, ^LLLabel width and length in dots
A text^FO ^A ^FD ^FSClosest ZPL font at the same physical height; rotation preserved
B barcode^BC, ^B3, ^BE …Symbology, height and human-readable flag mapped
LO, LE^GBLines and boxes; reverse lines become ^FR fields
GW bitmap^GFThe one element that stays a bitmap, in compressed hex

Other Supported Formats

EPL ViewerEPL to PDFTSPL to ZPLDPL to ZPLZPL EditorZPL Viewer
Start converting now

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about migrating EPL templates to ZPL.

Is the ZPL a real label, or a picture of the old one?
A real label. LabelZoom reads the EPL into its own label model — text fields, barcodes, lines and graphics as separate objects — and writes each one out as the equivalent ZPL command: A text becomes ^A font fields with ^FD data, B barcodes become ^BC, ^B3 and their relatives, LO and LE lines become ^GB boxes. Only GW inline bitmaps become ^GF graphics, because they were bitmaps to begin with. The result is editable ZPL you can open in the ZPL editor, not a screenshot.
My GK420 prints both EPL and ZPL. Do I still need to convert?
Not for that printer — dual-language models switch on the fly. You need the conversion when the next printer does not speak EPL (ZD-series and most current Zebras are ZPL-only), when a WMS or middleware only carries one language, or when you want a single template that prints identically across the whole fleet during a phased replacement.
Will the fonts match?
EPL's built-in fonts 1 to 5 are fixed-size bitmap fonts, and ZPL has its own set with different metrics, so the converter maps each EPL font to the closest ZPL font and scales it to the same physical height. Text lands in the same place at nearly the same size; letter shapes differ slightly. If a field must look identical, that is the one to hand-tune in the ZPL editor afterward.
How accurate is the conversion?
The EPL reader is newer than our ZPL engine. Everyday templates — text, Code 128 and Code 39 barcodes, lines, GW logos — convert cleanly and are tested against real production formats; unusual barcode options or font tricks may need a look. Always compare the ZPL preview against a known-good EPL print before rolling a converted template out.
Can this run across hundreds of templates?
That is what the REST API is for: the same conversion, callable from a script, with no watermark and no size limit on the batch. Convert one or two here to check the results, then automate the rest.