QR Code Generator

What this tool does

It encodes whatever you give it — a URL, WiFi credentials, a vCard, plain text — into a QR code you can download as a PNG for screens or an SVG for print. You can set the foreground and background colours and drop a logo in the middle.

The SVG matters more than it sounds. A raster image scaled up for a poster goes soft at the module edges, and soft edges are what a scanner fails on.

Interpreting the output: a worked example

Say you are putting a code on a table card in a restaurant, linking to a menu.

Encode https://example.com/menu — 25 characters. At error correction level M that fits comfortably in a version 2 symbol, which is a 25 × 25 grid of modules. Sparse, high contrast, forgiving.

Now encode https://example.com/menu?utm_source=table-card&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=spring-2026&location=window-table-7 instead — 117 characters. Same level M, and you are now at roughly version 7, a 45 × 45 grid. Nearly twice the modules across the same physical square, so each module is about half the width. That is the difference between a code that scans from a seated position and one that needs a phone held six inches away in good light.

The fix is not a bigger code. It is a shorter URL with a redirect behind it, so the printed symbol stays sparse and the tracking parameters live on your server.

Rule of thumb for sizing: the printed code should be at least one tenth of the scanning distance. Scanned at 30 cm, print it 3 cm across. Scanned across a room at 3 m, it needs to be 30 cm. Add a quiet zone of four modules of blank space on every side — a code butted up against a border or a photograph often fails for that reason alone.

The method: error correction

QR symbols carry Reed-Solomon error correction, which is what lets a smudged or partly covered code still resolve. Four levels are defined, and Denso Wave, who invented the format, document them here:

Higher correction is not free. The redundancy is extra data, so it pushes you into a larger symbol version at the same payload — and the version determines the module count, from 21 × 21 at version 1 up to 177 × 177 at version 40, which Denso Wave sets out in full.

A logo overlay is the common reason to raise the level. If your logo covers a quarter of the code, level Q is the minimum and H is safer. It still needs testing, because the correction budget assumes damage is spread out, not concentrated in one block over the middle.

Common mistakes

Printing without testing. Test on at least one iPhone and one Android device, at the distance and lighting the code will actually live in. A code that fails is a print run wasted.

Inverting the colours. Most scanners expect a dark symbol on a light background. Light-on-dark works on some readers and not others, and there is no upside worth that risk.

Too little contrast. Brand colours are fine as long as the difference in luminance is large. A mid-grey code on a pale grey card looks elegant and scans badly.

Removing the quiet zone. Four modules of clear space on all four sides. Designers trim it constantly.

Pointing at a URL you do not control. If the destination changes, a printed code is dead. Point it at your own short URL and redirect from there.

Encoding a WiFi password on a card that leaves the building. A WiFi QR code is the password in plain, machine-readable form. Fine on a wall inside the premises, poor judgement on a flyer.

FAQ

Do QR codes expire?

The symbol does not — it is just an encoding of a string, and it will decode the same way in twenty years. What expires is whatever the string points at. This is why a redirect you control is worth setting up before you print anything.

Can I change where a code points after it is printed?

Only if you encoded a URL you control and put a redirect behind it. Encode the destination directly and it is fixed for the life of the print. This is the whole argument for the extra hop.

Does adding a logo stop the code working?

Not if you plan for it. Raise the error correction level to Q or H, keep the logo under about a quarter of the area, centre it, and test. The correction is designed for scattered damage, so a large central block is the hardest case for it.

PNG or SVG?

SVG for anything printed, because it scales without softening the module edges. PNG for screens and for systems that will not accept vector files. If you are handing artwork to a printer, send the SVG.

Can a scan trigger an automation?

Yes, and it is a common pattern. Point the code at a tracked URL that logs the scan and fires a workflow — create the CRM record, start a follow-up sequence, pre-fill a form with the location the code was printed for. GoHighLevel automation for agencies covers that sequence end to end, and the URL Encoder is useful for getting the tracking parameters on that redirect right.

Next step

A QR code is the cheap part. The value is in what happens after the scan: the record created, the message sent, the follow-up that goes out without anyone remembering to send it. If you want that side built — scan to CRM to sequence, with tracking that tells you which print run worked — my automation services are on Upwork.