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Print your carrier's ZPL label on any printer
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Many carriers and shipping platforms hand you the label as
ZPL — the command language of Zebra-class thermal printers. Without such a
printer, an office laser printer or a browser prints ZPL as lines of text.
You do not need to buy a Zebra: render the ZPL to a PDF or PNG and print it
on the printer you have, and once there are tens or hundreds of labels a
day, let a script do the conversion through the API. This page shows where
each carrier's documentation says the ZPL comes from, and then the same
three steps for all of them.
Carrier fields below were read in each carrier's own developer
documentation on 2026-11-10 (Turkish carriers on 2026-10-31 and
2026-11-02, as noted). Field names change between API versions; check the
current reference before you build on them.
The same three steps for every carrier
Ask the carrier for ZPL with the setting named in its
section below, and save the label to a file. If the API returns it
base64-encoded, decode it first: the file should start with
^XA.
Preview it and download a PDF or PNG in the
ZPL to PDF converter: choose the print
density the carrier wrote the label for (203 dpi is 8 dots/mm, 300 dpi is
12) and the label size, then download. Every label in the file goes into
the PDF.
Automate it. Send the same file to the API from your
order or shipping script and print the PDF or PNG it returns — no Zebra,
no driver that understands ZPL.
Automate it: one request per label file
The render endpoint takes the ZPL as the request body. The path carries
the density and the label size in inches; the last part is the label index
in the file.
# first label as PNG (203 dpi = 8 dots/mm, 4x6 inch)
curl -X POST "https://api.labelixa.com/v1/printers/8dpmm/labels/4x6/0" \
-H "X-API-Key: $LABELIXA_KEY" --data-binary @label.zpl -o label.png
Leave the index out and ask for PDF to get every label in the file, one
per page — useful when a carrier returns a multi-parcel shipment as one
buffer:
base64 -d label.b64 > label.zpl # when the carrier returns base64
curl -X POST "https://api.labelixa.com/v1/printers/8dpmm/labels/4x6/" \
-H "X-API-Key: $LABELIXA_KEY" -H "Accept: application/pdf" \
--data-binary @label.zpl -o labels.pdf
Use 12dpmm for a label written for 300 dpi. The URL scheme
is the one Labelary uses, so code written for it usually needs only a new
host — see the Labelary-compatible
endpoint. To stop a broken label before it is printed,
/v1/diagnostics returns findings as JSON; the full reference
is in the API documentation.
Converting labels every day: availability and price
When a script converts every label you ship, the conversion service is
part of your shipping line: if it does not answer, parcels wait. Two things
are worth checking before you rely on any service, ours included:
Is availability published? The
status page shows availability measured inside the
service and with hourly checks from outside, unrounded. On 2026-11-10 it
read 100.00%: 4,248 of 4,248 external checks passed over the last 60 days.
That is a measurement, not a service-level agreement; an uptime SLA with
service credits comes with the Business and Enterprise plans
(SLA terms).
What does a paid plan cost? Starter is $9 a month for
25,000 labels a month with your own API key; it has no SLA. For
comparison, Labelary's own pricing table (read on 2026-11-10) lists no
availability SLA for its free plan, and its first plan with one, Plus,
costs $99 a month month-to-month ($90 with a yearly commitment). See the
Labelary comparison and
pricing.
Can you try it first? The converter and the preview
work without an account, so you can check your own carrier labels before
you change any code.
A 4×6 label on A4 or an office laser printer
Carrier ZPL is almost always written for a 4×6 inch (about 100×150 mm)
label. What the converter and the API do with that today, measured on
2026-11-10:
Default: page = label. Without a page size, each PDF
page is exactly the label size. Print it on A4 or Letter with the print
dialog set to actual size (100%) and cut along the label.
Several labels per sheet. The API headers
X-Page-Size: A4 and X-Page-Layout: 2x2 put four
labels on each A4 page; each is scaled to fit its cell, to about 90%
(91×137 mm); a 2×3 grid is about 60%. With 1x1 (the default
once a page size is set) the label is centred at true size and never
enlarged; a 4×6 label on A6 is shrunk to about 89% to fit. The converter
offers A4, Letter, A5, A6 and Legal sheets.
Scale and scanning. Grid layouts are not 100% scale.
Carriers set minimum barcode sizes, so print one test sheet and scan it
before you use a scaled layout for real parcels. The pages are raster
images at the label's own density.
Where each carrier puts the ZPL
Only carriers whose own documentation we could read are listed here.
Labelixa does not buy labels or talk to the carriers; it renders the ZPL
you already received.
UPS
Shipping API, POST /shipments/{version}/ship:
LabelSpecification.LabelImageFormat.Code = ZPL,
LabelStockSize 4×6 or 4×8 inches. The specification has no
resolution field, so read the density from the file. Request fields and
response paths: UPS ZPL
labels.
FedEx
Ship API: labelSpecification.imageType =
ZPLII, labelStockType such as
STOCK_4X6, resolution 203 or 300 (300 only with
ZPLII; the default is 203). Details:
FedEx ZPL labels.
USPS
Domestic Labels 3.0 API (POST /labels/v3/label): USPS lists
the label formats PDF, TIFF, SVG, JPG, ZPL203DPI and
ZPL300DPI — the density is part of the format name. We could
not read the label size field in the current schema.
DHL Express
MyDHL API 3.4.0: imageOptions → encodingFormat
accepts zpl next to epl, lp2 and
pdf; DHL notes that invoices and receipts always come back as
PDF. Read on 2026-10-31; we did not read a density field.
Amazon Shipping
Shipping API v2 (Buy Shipping): the requested document specification
takes a format of PDF, PNG or
ZPL, a size, a dpi and a page
layout; the values allowed for a shipment are those returned by
getRates (supportedDPIs). The label comes back
base64-encoded in the package documents.
ShipStation
ShipStation API: label_format = zpl. ZPL labels
are 4×6 inches only; the response gives a label_download.zpl
link, or base64 inline when you ask for that download type.
Shippo
Set label_file_type to ZPLII when you create
the transaction; without it, the default format from the Shippo dashboard
is used. Shippo lists no size for the ZPL token.
EasyPost
Shipment options: label_format = ZPL; the
documented label_size for ZPL is 4x6, and carrier guides list
carrier-specific sizes.
Shopify Shipping
In the GraphQL Admin API (2026-10), a shipping label's documents carry a
format of PDF or ZPL and a
url. We did not read a size or density for them.
Canada Post
With ZPL chosen, the Get Artifact call returns ZPL II commands, and the
output format must be 4x6. Canada Post asks for a printer that can truncate
text, and recommends PDF otherwise.
Australia Post
Shipping and Tracking API, create labels: a request with ZPL labels is
limited to 50 parcels, and the thermal layout is
THERMAL-LABEL-A6-1PP. Australia Post's help page for
international CN22 labels says ZPL is enabled for the CN22 label only, so
check which of your products it covers.
DPD
DPD's ShipmentService 3.5 (documented by DPD Switzerland):
printOptions.printerLanguage = ZPL,
paperFormatA6, and
printerResolution 203, 300 or 600 (also 150 and 200), which
must match the printer's head. DPD runs separate web services per country;
check your country's documentation.
PostNL
Labelling webservice: printer type Zebra|Generic ZPL II at
200, 300 or 600 dpi. PostNL advises against sending PDF labels straight to
a Zebra printer.
Turkish carriers and marketplaces
Read on 2026-10-31 and 2026-11-02: the Trendyol common label
("format": "ZPL"), HepsiJet (zplBarcode),
Yurtiçi (docCargoZpl), Aras (ZebraZpl), UPS
Türkiye (CreateShipment_Type3_ZPL), Kolay Gelsin and Sendeo
(BarcodeZpl) and PTT AVM ("type": "zpl"). Calls
and fields: Trendyol
and HepsiJet ZPL labels.
Carriers that return no ZPL, or that we could not verify
No ZPL in the documentation we read: the Royal Mail
Click & Drop API returns labels as PDF; PTT Kargo returns EPL, which
the converter can preview but only EPL printers print; Sürat Kargo's
current Web API has no label field; Pazarama returns no label file, only a
shipment code.
Not verified (official documentation not readable
from our side, limited to approved developers, or no label call found):
Evri, GLS, Deutsche Post / DHL Paket, eBay, Etsy, MNG Kargo, the
Hepsiburada marketplace label, direct Trendyol Express accounts and DHL
eCommerce Türkiye. If your account returns ZPL from one of them, the three
steps above apply unchanged.
Labelixa is not affiliated with any of the carriers or platforms named
on this page; their names are used only to say which documentation was
read.
Frequently asked questions
Can I print a carrier's ZPL label without a Zebra printer?
Yes. Convert the ZPL to a PDF or PNG and print that on any printer. Each PDF page is the label size by default; print it at actual size (100%).
Can I automate it for hundreds of labels a day?
Yes. Post each ZPL file to the render endpoint from your shipping script and print the PDF or PNG it returns. Starter is $9 a month for 25,000 labels a month.
Does a 4x6 label fit on A4 at full size?
One label per page prints at full size when you print the label-size PDF at 100%. The A4 grid layouts put four or six labels on a page, scaled to about 90% or 60%.
