Generate a QR code
A QR code is just an encoding of text, so there is no reason the text should ever leave your device — and yet most online generators send everything you type to a server. This one runs entirely in your browser. That matters more than it sounds, because the things people most often encode are exactly the things worth keeping private: WiFi passwords, UPI IDs, personal phone numbers. Enter a link, WiFi details or UPI payment information and download the result as a PNG or a scalable SVG.
Error correction, and why the highest setting is not the best
QR codes carry redundant data so they still scan when part of the code is damaged, dirty or obscured. Four levels exist, from roughly 7% recoverable at Low to about 30% at Highest. It is tempting to always pick the highest, but redundancy costs space: the same content at a higher level needs more dots in the same area, which makes each dot smaller and can actually make the code harder for a cheap phone camera to read. Medium is the right default for most uses. Choose Highest only for codes that will be printed on something likely to get scuffed, such as a sticker on a machine or a poster outdoors.
Print size and the quiet zone
Two things make a printed QR code fail. The first is printing it too small — a rough guide is that the code should be at least a tenth of the distance it will be scanned from, so a code read from a metre away wants to be about 10 cm across. The second is removing the white border. That margin is called the quiet zone and scanners rely on it to find where the code begins; designers crop it constantly and then wonder why the code will not scan. Download the SVG if you are sending the code to a printer, since it scales to any size without the edges blurring.
WiFi and UPI codes are specific formats
A WiFi QR code is not a link — it is a structured string that phones recognise and offer to join. Getting it subtly wrong is easy, because characters like semicolons and colons carry meaning inside the format and have to be escaped. An unescaped semicolon in a password silently truncates the credentials, so the code encodes cleanly and simply never connects. This tool escapes them for you. UPI codes are similarly structured, and the amount has to be formatted to two decimal places or payment apps reject it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my data sent to a server?
- No. The QR code is generated entirely in your browser, which matters when you are encoding a WiFi password or a UPI ID.
- PNG or SVG — which should I download?
- PNG for screens and messaging. SVG for anything going to a printer, because it scales to any size without blurring.
- Which error correction level should I pick?
- Medium for most uses. Higher levels survive more damage but pack the dots tighter, which can make the code harder to scan. Use Highest only for codes likely to get scuffed or dirty.
- Why won't my printed QR code scan?
- Usually it is printed too small, or the white border around it has been cropped. That border is the quiet zone and scanners need it to locate the code.
- Do QR codes expire?
- No. The code is a fixed encoding of whatever you entered. It works forever, though if it points at a URL, that URL can of course stop working.
- Can I put a logo in the middle?
- Not with this tool. If you do add one elsewhere, use a high error correction level and keep the logo small, since it covers data the scanner needs.
- How much text fits?
- Up to about 2,000 characters, though long content makes the code dense and harder to scan. For a long link, shorten it first.