Check your QR code before you print it. See whether phones can read it, what could stop them, and how big to print it. Free, with no sign-up.
Drop your QR code image hereChoose your QR code image
Use the exact file you'll send to print: PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF or SVG. You can also paste a screenshot.Pick the file you'll send to print, or take a photo of a printed code.
Checked in your browser. Your image is never uploaded.
We read the code the way a phone does, then test it: contrast, the blank border around it, how it copes with blur and wear, how dense the pattern is and where it leads. Add the print size to check that too.
We decode the image with ZXing, a widely used open-source barcode reader, and show you exactly what the code contains.
Pale colours, gold or pastel codes and busy backgrounds are the most common reason a printed code fails in dim light.
Phones find a code by its edges, so it needs a blank border 4 squares wide. Artwork that runs up to the code breaks that.
We shrink and blur the code the way a phone camera sees it, and measure how much of its error correction a logo or decoration has already used up.
Long links make more, smaller squares. A denser code has to be printed bigger to scan from the same distance.
Tell us how wide you will print it and where people will stand, and we check the squares are big enough to read from there.
The smallest width phones read reliably from each distance. Codes holding long links, such as links with tracking tags, have more and smaller squares, so they need printing bigger.
| Where it is scanned | Distance | QuikQR code | Long link (100+ characters) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Held in the handbusiness cards, packaging, menus | 30 cm | 4 cm (1.6 in) | 4.8 cm (1.9 in) |
| On a table or countertable tents, counter cards | 75 cm | 9.9 cm (3.9 in) | 12.1 cm (4.7 in) |
| On a wall or windowposters, window signs | 2 m | 26.4 cm (10.4 in) | 32.1 cm (12.7 in) |
| Across a room or streetevent banners, shop fronts, vehicles | 5 m | 66.1 cm (26 in) | 80.4 cm (31.6 in) |
No. The checker runs in your browser. Your image and what the code contains never leave your device.
It depends on how far away people stand and how much the code holds. A QuikQR code read from 30 cm away should be at least 4 cm wide, and one on a wall read from 2 m needs about 26.4 cm. Codes holding long links need to be bigger again. Enter your print size in the checker and it works this out for your code.
Use high (H), which can repair up to 30% damage, and keep the logo small and centred. Low (L) repairs only 7%, so even a small logo can use it all up. The checker tells you how much error correction your design leaves unused.
The quiet zone is the blank border around the code. The standard asks for 4 squares on every side. Without it, a phone cannot tell where the code ends and the surrounding artwork begins.
Yes. Take a sharp photo straight on, with the whole code and some space around it in the frame, and drop the photo in. For the most accurate border and size results, check the original artwork file.
Yes. Print one copy at the final size and scan it with two different phones, ideally one iPhone and one Android, in the light where it will hang. The checker catches design problems; a test print catches printer and material problems.
A code can pass every check here and still stop working once it is printed and put up. QuikQR dynamic codes let you change where they lead after printing, show you every scan, and email you when a code that was getting scans goes quiet.