QR Code Generator

What you can put in a QR code

A QR code is just a way of carrying text, so what matters is the format that text is written in — a phone recognises certain patterns and offers the right action. This generator handles eight of them:

URL

The common case — a website, a menu, a form, a payment link. Shorter URLs make a less dense pattern that scans more easily from a distance, so prefer a tidy link over one carrying a long tracking string.

Wi-Fi

Network name, security type and password. Phone cameras on iOS and Android recognise the format and offer to join, which is why these turn up on café tables and in guest rooms.

Contact (vCard)

Name, phone, email, organisation and website in one scan, saved straight to the phone's address book. This is what belongs on a business card, rather than a link to a page about you.

Email

Opens a new message with the address, and optionally the subject and body, already filled in. Useful on a support poster or an event sign where you want a specific subject line.

Phone

Starts a call to the number. Worth pairing with the number printed in readable text — some people will still want to dial it themselves.

SMS

Opens a text message to a number with optional pre-filled content. Common for short-code voting, check-ins and opt-ins.

Location

Geographic coordinates, which open in whichever maps app the phone uses. Better than an address for a venue entrance, a trailhead or anywhere the postal address lands you in the wrong place.

Plain text

Any text at all, shown on screen without opening an app. Serial numbers, instructions, a wifi password in readable form, an inventory reference.

Static and dynamic QR codes — and why this one is static

This is the distinction worth understanding before you print anything, because it decides whether your code still works in two years.

The failure people run into is a familiar one: generate a “free” code, print it on ten thousand flyers, and discover months later that it now lands on a page asking for a subscription. That happens because the code was dynamic and the redirect belonged to somebody else.

If you do want to change the destination later, point a static code at a URL you control and redirect from there. You keep the ability to edit and to measure traffic, and the printed code depends on your domain rather than on a company that might not be around.

PNG, SVG or JPEG — which to download

If you are handing the file to a designer or a printer, send the SVG. It is the one format that will not need regenerating when they decide to make it bigger.

Logos, colours and error correction

QR codes carry redundant data so they still scan when part of the pattern is damaged or covered. That redundancy is the error correction level, and it is what makes a centre logo possible at all:

Higher correction means a denser pattern for the same content, so it is a trade rather than a free win. For a logo, use Hand keep the image to roughly a fifth of the code's width.

On colour, the rule is contrast. Dark pattern on a light background is what every scanner expects — inverting it works on some phones and fails on others, so avoid it for anything printed. Keep the contrast strong, avoid gradients across the pattern, and leave the three corner squares clearly defined, because those are what a scanner uses to orient itself. Test any customised code with a real phone camera before it goes to print.

Wi-Fi QR codes

A guest scans, the phone offers to join, and nobody has to read a twenty-character password off a card. Three things are worth knowing before you print one:

• The network name must match exactly, including capitalisation and spaces, as it broadcasts. This is the usual reason a Wi-Fi code silently fails.
• The password is stored in plain text inside the code. Anyone who scans it — or who photographs the printed code — has the password. Treat it exactly like the password written on a card.
• Use a guest network for anything on display. It keeps visitors off the network your devices are on, and lets you rotate the password without disrupting anything.

There is no way to switch off a printed Wi-Fi code, but changing the password makes it useless immediately — the old one is baked into the pattern.

Printing: size, margin and testing

Most QR codes that fail in the wild fail for physical reasons rather than digital ones.

• Size for the distance.A rough working rule is that a code scans from about ten times its own width — so 2 cm for arm's length, and around 30 cm for a poster read from three metres. When in doubt, go bigger.
• Leave the quiet zone. Scanners need a clear margin of at least four modules on every side. Butting a code against text or a border is a common way to break it.
• Mind the surface. Gloss and lamination throw glare that blinds a camera. Matte scans more reliably, and a curved surface such as a bottle needs a larger code than a flat one.
• Say what it does.A line of text beside the code — “scan for the menu” — measurably improves how many people scan it.

Then test the actual printed artefact, not the file, with more than one phone. It is the only check that catches contrast, glare and size problems together — and once ten thousand flyers exist, it is too late. The image converter can change the exported file to another format if your printer asks for something specific.