QR Code Generator (SVG & PNG)

What does a QR code actually store?

The pattern is the data. A QR code is a grid of black and white squares, called modules, that spells out a literal string: a link, a line of text, a Wi-Fi login. No server is involved in a scan. The reader finds the three big corner squares to work out the orientation, reads the format area that records the mask and the error correction level, and decodes the rest into text. The layout, the encoding and the Reed-Solomon error correction are all defined by the international standard ISO/IEC 18004, which is why a code made here reads the same on a phone bought anywhere.

That is where static and dynamic codes part company. This page makes static ones: your link is baked into the squares, nothing is tracked, and the code lasts as long as the link does. Most commercial generators hand you a dynamic code instead, which encodes a short redirect owned by the provider. You gain an editable destination and scan counts, and you take on a dependency: when the trial ends or the company closes, every printed code dies at once, usually after the flyers have shipped.

Which type and which error correction level

• Text / URL: a link on a poster, menu, packaging, badge or business card, or any short piece of plain text. Shorter content means fewer modules and bigger squares.
• Wi-Fi network: a code a guest points a camera at instead of reading a password off a router label. Tick hidden network only if the router does not broadcast its name.
• Level L, about 7 percent recovery: screens, or a long URL you need to keep as sparse as possible.
• Level M, about 15 percent: the default here, and the right answer for clean printing on paper.
• Level Q, about 25 percent: codes that live outdoors, on a shop window, or on packaging that gets handled.
• Level H, about 30 percent: when a logo sits in the middle, or part of the code will be covered or damaged. Higher levels add modules, so plan to print larger.
• SVG or PNG: SVG for anything a printer touches, since vector stays crisp from a business card to an A0 poster and can be recoloured later. PNG for slides, documents, email and chat.

How to make a link QR code for a poster or a menu

1. Keep Text / URL and paste the full address, including the https:// part. A bare domain usually works; the full form removes any doubt about what the phone will open.
2. Trim long tracking parameters first. Every extra character adds modules and shrinks the squares at a fixed print size.
3. Set the error correction level: M for an indoor menu or a flyer, Q or H for a window sticker or an outdoor board.
4. Scan the preview on this screen with your own phone before you download anything. It is the cheapest test you will ever run.
5. Download the SVG for print, or the PNG at 1024 px for a slide and 2048 px for a full-page document.
6. Leave the white margin alone. The standard asks for a quiet zone four modules wide on all four sides, and the file already includes it. Cropping it is one of the most common reasons a printed code fails.
7. Size it for the reading distance. As a rule of thumb, make the code at least one tenth of that distance: about 3 cm for a table card read at 30 cm, about 30 cm for a poster read from 3 m.

How to make a Wi-Fi QR code for guests

1. Switch to Wi-Fi network.
2. Type the SSID exactly as it appears in the Wi-Fi list, capitals and spaces included. It is the network name, not the router model.
3. Enter the password and choose the security type. WPA covers WPA, WPA2 and WPA3, which is almost every router in service; WEP is only for very old hardware. Pick No password for an open network and the password field is dropped from the code.
4. Tick Hidden network if the router does not broadcast its name. That adds the H:true field the phone needs in order to find it.
5. Download and print. The code holds a plain string of the form WIFI:T:WPA;S:NetworkName;P:Password;; from the ZXing barcode contents specification, the convention iOS and Android camera apps read. Semicolons, colons, commas, quotation marks and backslashes in your SSID or password are escaped with a backslash automatically, so a password such as a;b:c still scans.
6. Point the code at the guest network, not the one your laptop and storage sit on. A code taped to a wall is a password anyone can photograph.

Downloading, printing and dropping it into a document

• Desktop: both buttons save to your Downloads folder. The SVG opens in Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape and Figma, where you can recolour it or add a logo without losing sharpness.
• Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, Slides: use the PNG and insert it as a picture, since these apps handle SVG unevenly. Turn off automatic image compression before exporting a PDF for print.
• Canva: PNG uploads work on any plan. SVG upload is a paid-plan feature at the time of writing.
• iPhone and iPad: a download saves through Safari into the Downloads folder in the Files app, and the share sheet sends it on to Canva, Docs or a message.
• Android: the file lands in Downloads and appears in the notification shade. Open it from Files and share it into whichever app you are laying out in.
• Printing: print at 100 percent with fit to page scaling switched off, black on white, matte if you have the choice. Glossy laminate throws back enough light to defeat a camera at exactly the angle people hold a phone.

Where QR codes scan, and what stops them

• iPhone and iPad: the built-in Camera app has read QR codes since iOS 11 in 2017. Point it at the code and tap the banner. A Code Scanner button can also be added to Control Centre.
• Android: most current phones scan from the stock camera, and Google Lens reads codes on the rest, including from a screenshot already in the gallery. On an older or stripped-down build, Lens is the reliable route.
• Wi-Fi codes: both platforms recognise the WIFI: string and offer to join the network rather than opening a browser. Android can also generate its own sharing code from a saved network in Wi-Fi settings.
• WeChat and LINE: both have in-app scanners that many users reach for before the system camera. They open links in their own browser, so a page that depends on a desktop-style browser feature can behave differently there.
• What breaks a scan: too small for the distance, a cropped quiet zone, low contrast such as grey on beige, inverted colours with light modules on a dark background, reflections off gloss, a payload long enough to make the modules tiny, or a camera that cannot focus that close. Inverted codes are the sneaky one: some readers cope, many do not.

Before you print a thousand of them

A static code is public and permanent. Whatever you encode can be read by anyone who photographs it, and it cannot be edited afterwards. Check the link character by character, scan the proof, then send it to the printer. If the destination might move, point the code at a URL you control and redirect on your own server.

Wi-Fi codes are passwords in plain sight. Use a guest network, change it when staff or housemates change, and do not post a photo of the printed code.

Scanning carries its own risk. Stickers placed over legitimate codes on parking meters and menus are a real fraud pattern. Read the domain in the preview before you open it, and be suspicious of any code that asks for a payment or a login.

Accessibility. A QR code is invisible to a screen reader and useless without a phone camera. Print the plain URL beside it and keep a readable alternative for anything essential, such as a menu or a ticket.

Trademark. QR Code is a registered trademark of Denso Wave, which invented the format in 1994. The specification itself is open and free to use.