A magnetic skyrmion has drawn a lot of interest due to its use in spintronics applications. For skyrmion studies, it is important to find the samples from which skyrmions can be made. The stripe state consists of elongated up and down domains and is often considered a precursor to skyrmion states; attempts have been made to turn the stripe state into a skyrmion state. However, not all stripe states convert to skyrmion states, which is particularly difficult with wide stripes. Here, we show that the energy barrier that separates the stripe state from the skyrmion state has an approximate universal trend concerning stripe width. These results provide a basic understanding for the difficulty encountered in making skyrmions on wide stripe states. However, with this energy barrier in consideration, the stability of the skyrmion state can be improved.