URL and Text QR Code Generator
Turn a link or a block of text into a scannable code. The payload is encoded into the image itself, so there is no redirect service in the middle - the code works forever and reports nothing back to anyone.
This page opens on the text and URL input.
Shorter payloads scan better
Capacity is banded. As the payload grows the symbol steps up to a higher version with more and finer modules, which is harder to read at distance or in poor light.
Stripping tracking parameters off a URL frequently drops the code a version or two and visibly improves reliability. Uppercase alphanumeric text also encodes more efficiently than mixed case, which is why some printed codes use an uppercase short link.
Error correction against payload size
- L - about 7% recoverable, densest, fine for clean screens.
- M - about 15%, the sensible default for print.
- Q - about 25%, for surfaces that get handled.
- H - about 30%, and required if a logo covers the centre, since a logo is damage as far as the decoder is concerned.
Keeping it scannable
The blank margin around the symbol is part of the specification rather than decoration, and cropping it tight is the most common reason a code fails. Keep modules dark on a light background - most scanners will not read an inverted code - and size it at roughly a tenth of the intended scanning distance.
Export SVG for print so it stays sharp at any scale, PNG for screens.
Static codes cannot be changed later
Because the payload is inside the image, a printed code points at that URL permanently. If the destination might move, encode a link you control and redirect from there.
That is the one genuine advantage commercial dynamic QR services sell - and the cost is that they see every scan and can disable the code.