Test data for Brazilian software
EN
Fictitious data for software testing. Using fake documents for fraud is a crime in Brazil (Penal Code, arts. 297–299, 307).

Brazilian license plate generator and validator

Generate fictitious Brazilian license plates in the Mercosur or the old format to test fleet, parking and mobility apps — and validate lists, with conversion between the two formats when one exists.

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Up to 1000 items at once. Everything is generated in your browser.

How to use

  1. On the Generate tab, pick the Format: Mercosur (e.g. EAZ5C89) or Old (e.g. DRQ-9089).
  2. For the old format, tick With mask (punctuation) to include the hyphen; Mercosur plates have no separator.
  3. Set the Quantity (1 to 1000), click Generate, then Copy — or use Export CSV / Export JSON.
  4. On the Validate tab, paste one plate per line, upper or lower case, with or without a hyphen.
  5. Click Validate: each line shows whether the plate is valid, which format was detected and, where possible, the equivalent plate in the other format.

How it works

Brazil’s two plate formats

The old format (the LLLNNNN pattern of CONTRAN Resolution 231/2007) is three letters followed by four digits, written with a hyphen: LLL-NNNN. The Mercosur standard — the common plate of the South American trade bloc, regulated in Brazil by CONTRAN Resolution 780/2019 — keeps seven characters but turns the second digit into a letter: LLLNLNN (letter, letter, letter, digit, letter, digit, digit), with no hyphen. CONTRAN is Brazil’s National Traffic Council; the resolution gave state traffic departments until 31 January 2020 to roll out the new plate, required for first registrations and in cases such as replacing a damaged or lost plate. That is why both formats are still on the road.

Converting an old plate to Mercosur

When an old-format vehicle moves to Mercosur, only the fifth character (third from the end) changes: the second digit becomes a letter, following the conversion table in Annex II of Resolution 780/2019.

Digit0123456789
LetterABCDEFGHIJ

Examples

  1. Old → Mercosur: in DRQ-9089 the digits are 9, 0, 8, 9. The second digit is 0, which maps to A. Result: DRQ9A89.
  2. Mercosur → old: in EAZ5C89 the fifth character is C, which maps to 2. Old equivalent: EAZ-5289.
  3. No equivalent: in EAZ5Q89 the letter Q is outside A–J. The plate is a valid Mercosur plate but has no old-format counterpart — typical of plates issued directly in the new standard.

There is no check digit

Unlike CPF (Brazil’s taxpayer ID), PIS or RENAVAM, a plate has no check digit, so validation here is format-only: the validator strips hyphens and spaces, upper-cases the input, requires exactly 7 characters and checks them against LLLNNNN or LLLNLNN. A well-formed plate may not exist or may belong to any vehicle; nothing is looked up in Detran or SENATRAN systems.

How the generator works

  • Letters are drawn uniformly from A–Z and digits from 0–9.
  • For Mercosur plates, the fifth-position letter also ranges over A–Z, so some generated plates have no old equivalent — just like the real fleet.
  • Everything runs in your browser. Plates are random and meant for software testing; since any combination may match a real vehicle, never use them to identify vehicles, issue fines or publish listings.

FAQ

Which regular expression validates Brazilian plates?

After removing hyphens and spaces and upper-casing, use ^[A-Z]{3}\d{4}$ for the old format and ^[A-Z]{3}\d[A-Z]\d{2}$ for Mercosur. To accept both, combine them as ^[A-Z]{3}\d[A-Z0-9]\d{2}$. Remember that this checks format only, not whether the plate exists.

Can every Mercosur plate be converted to the old format?

No. Only plates whose fifth character is a letter from A to J have an old equivalent, because those letters stand for the digits 0 to 9. Mercosur plates with K to Z in that position were issued directly in the new standard and match no old plate.

How should I store plates in a database?

Store a normalised value: seven upper-case characters with no hyphen (for example DRQ9089 or DRQ9A89). If your system must recognise the same vehicle before and after a plate change, also store the converted form or search both versions, since conversion only changes the fifth character.

Can generated plates belong to real cars?

They can coincide: the combination space is limited and there is no check digit to separate fictitious plates from real ones. Use them only in test environments, seed data, demos and QA — never to identify vehicles, file reports or in any public communication.

Do motorcycle plates follow the same pattern?

Yes. Motorcycles use the same seven-character sequence in both the old and the Mercosur formats; only the physical size and the two-line layout differ. For software validation purposes the character rule is identical.

Sources

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Updated 2026-11-13 · Rafael Lima