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Postal codes for international shipping from Brazil: formats by country

Leendert van Delft
Leendert van Delft
Vice-President Global Sales Programs, (Digital) Marketing and Global E-commerce
8 min read
Person writing an address with the postal code on a cardboard box for shipping from Brazil
In this article
Brazil's CEP has 8 digits, hyphen after the 5th
Each country has its own format, letters or not
Get the code from the receiver in writing
A wrong address triggers a correction surcharge

A postal code is the string of numbers, or of letters and numbers, that identifies the delivery area of an address. Brazil uses the 8-digit CEP, the United States the ZIP code, the United Kingdom the postcode and Germany the PLZ. Each country has its own format, and an international shipment needs the destination's.

The trouble starts when you fill in the shipment. A customer in Lisbon sends "2725 079", one in London sends "ec1y8sy" with no space, and the form field seems to accept anything. It does, but the box can stall halfway because of a missing space or hyphen.

What is a postal code and what does it do?

A postal code lets parcels be sorted and routed without anyone reading the street name. Each digit, or block of characters, points to a geographic level: region, city, neighbourhood, sometimes a single block or one large business address.

For a shipper it does three jobs at once. It tells the sorting system where the box is going, it helps check that city and street match, and it feeds into the quote, because the rate takes the delivery location into account. That is why the postal code is not a form detail: it is the first thing the machines read.

How does the Brazilian CEP work?

The CEP (Código de Endereçamento Postal, Brazil's postal code) has 8 digits with a hyphen between the 5th and 6th, in the format 00000-000. The first five indicate, in order, region, sub-region, sector, sub-sector and sub-sector divider. The last three, the suffix, identify the delivery area. Source: Universal Postal Union (UPU), addressing sheet for Brazil.

The same sheet sets two rules that many people miss. The digits are never separated by a full stop, so "85.070-200" is wrong. And the state abbreviation follows the city, separated by a hyphen, never before the CEP: "GUARAPUAVA - PR" on one line and "85070-200" on the line below.

If someone abroad is sending something to you in Brazil, give them the address already in this layout, with "BRAZIL" on the last line. A foreign sender does not know how the CEP works and will usually copy exactly what you send.

What postal code format does each country use?

Formats vary a lot between destinations: some codes are numbers only, some mix letters, some need a space, and some sit before the city while others go after it. The table covers the most common destinations for shippers in Brazil.

Country

Name

Format

Example

Position in the address

United States

ZIP code

5 digits, or 9 digits with a hyphen (ZIP+4)

11550-1234

after the state abbreviation

Canada

postal code

6 characters, alternating letter and digit, with a space

H3Z 2Y7

after the province abbreviation

United Kingdom

postcode

5 to 7 characters, space before the last 3

EC1Y 8SY

own line, below the town

Germany

PLZ

5 digits

26133

before the city

France, Spain and Italy

code postal, código postal, CAP

5 digits

45012

before the city

Portugal

código postal

7 digits, hyphen after the 4th

2725-079

before the locality

Netherlands

postcode

4 digits, a space and 2 letters

6832 AM

before the city

Argentina

CPA

1 letter, 4 digits and 3 letters

Y5900FNF

before the locality

Mexico

código postal

5 digits

02860

before the city

Japan

postal code

7 digits, hyphen after the 3rd

112-0001

below the city

China

postal code

6 digits

100004

before the city or province

Australia

postcode

4 digits

6430

after the state abbreviation

Source: Universal Postal Union (UPU), country addressing sheets, accessed October 2026.

Two details in the table are easy to overlook. In the UK and Canada the space in the middle is part of the code and the letters go in capitals. For Germany, the UPU sheet says never to write "D-" or "DE-" before the number, because it disrupts automated sorting.

In practice, the address block looks like this, using the UPU sheets' own examples:

  • Portugal: "R LEAL DA CÂMARA 31 RC ESQ", then "2725-079 MEM MARTINS" and "PORTUGAL".
  • Germany: "Wacholderweg 52a", then "26133 OLDENBURG" and "GERMANY".
  • United Kingdom: the town on one line, the postcode alone on the next and "UNITED KINGDOM" last.

In the United States the code sits right after the state abbreviation; the guide to US state abbreviations for shipping shows the full line.

Where do you find the receiver's postal code?

The safest source is the receiver. They get mail at that address and have the code on any bill, statement or earlier order. Work in this order:

  1. Ask for the full address in writing, ideally copied from a document rather than dictated on a call.
  2. Check the code against the format in the table: a Portuguese code with 6 digits or a British one with no letters is a typing error.
  3. For a business customer, use the address on their purchase order or invoice, which has already been through their finance team.
  4. If in doubt, look the code up in the destination country's search service before you create the shipment, not after the box has left.

If you ship to the same region often, keep validated addresses in a contact book. The second shipment to the same customer should not depend on retyping.

What happens when the postal code is wrong?

A wrong code can send the box down another route, delay delivery and add cost. When the destination address is incomplete, outdated or incorrect to the point of preventing delivery, DHL Express searches for the right address and charges a fixed address correction surcharge per shipment, on top of the freight. Source: DHL Express Service and Rate Guide 2026, Brazil.

The code also affects the quote. The same guide lists a remote area surcharge when pickup or delivery happens in a distant or hard-to-reach location. Since the quote is built on the address you enter, a mistyped code can hide or create that charge, and the difference only shows up on the invoice.

For the most frequent destinations, the guides on shipping from Brazil to the US and shipping from Brazil to Europe cover documents, duties and restrictions on each route. If you already sell abroad on a regular basis, start with the guide to exporting with DHL.

Frequently asked questions about postal codes for shipping from Brazil

Yes. CEP, short for Código de Endereçamento Postal, is the name of the postal code in Brazil. Other countries use names such as ZIP code, postcode, PLZ or CAP for the same idea, each with its own format.

Copy it exactly as the receiver wrote it, in capital letters and with the space in the right place. In the UK and Canada the space separates the two parts of the code, and removing it can stop the address from validating.

It is the long version of the US ZIP code, with 9 digits and a hyphen between the 5th and 6th, such as 22162-1010. The four extra digits point to a narrower delivery segment. If the receiver only gives you the first five, use what they gave you rather than filling in the rest yourself.

No. The country name goes alone on the last line of the address, in capital letters. Prefixes such as "D-" before a German code are discouraged by the UPU addressing sheet itself.

Yes. The commercial invoice carries the full address of shipper and receiver, postal code included, and it must match the label. Keep both identical so there is no doubt about who the receiver is.

Sources

Ship to any address format with confidence

The right postal code is the first step toward an international delivery with no rework. The rest is an operation that validates the address, produces the documents and tracks each shipment to the customer's door.

With a business account you can save receivers, create shipments with the address laid out for each country and follow everything in one place. Open a DHL Express business account and have your next international shipment ready to go.

Open a DHL Express Business account
Leendert van Delft
Leendert van Delft
Vice-President Global Sales Programs, (Digital) Marketing and Global E-commerce

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