QR code generator

Pick the kind of code first. A web address or plain text is the most common, and the other kinds fill in the right format for a Wi-Fi network, an email, a call or a text message.

Fill in the fields and check the preview. If you plan to print the code, test it with your own phone before it goes to the printer, and again from the distance at which people will scan it.

Choose a format and download. Use SVG for print and for logos that will be resized, and PNG for a web page or a slide.

Keep strong contrast. Dark squares on a light background work best, and the code colour should be much darker than the colour behind it. A pale blue code on white may look fine to you and fail on a cheap scanner.

Leave the empty border alone. The four squares of blank space around the code let a scanner find where it begins. A border of zero is meant for a code that is placed inside a frame you control.

Do not make the code too small. A rough guide is ten times the distance, so a code scanned from one metre away should be at least ten centimetres wide, and more if it holds a lot of text.

A QR code holds extra data that lets a scanner rebuild squares that are missing. The low level adds the least and keeps the code simple. The high level lets the code survive a scratch, but it needs more squares for the same text.

Shorter text gives a simpler code that scans faster from farther away. If you want to share a long address, put it behind a short link and encode that instead.

Before you publish a code, check where it leads. A code with a wrong address, printed a thousand times, is an expensive mistake, and fixing it means printing again. Read the code with a phone and open the page to the end.