Make a code that scans, or read one you have been handed and see what it says
Everything here runs in your browser. Files are never uploaded.A QR code and a shop barcode look like the same idea and are not interchangeable. One carries text of any kind and is read by a phone camera; the other carries a short number and is read by a laser at a till. Picking the wrong one is the most common reason a code is printed, stuck on and then found to be useless. Making and reading both happens in your browser: the generators produce PNG or SVG at any size, and the scanner reads a photograph without uploading it.
| You want to | Use | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Open a link, join WiFi, share contact details, take a UPI payment | QR code | it holds arbitrary text and every phone camera reads it |
| Sell a product through a retailer | EAN-13 or UPC-A barcode | tills and stock systems read linear barcodes, and the number must be one issued to you |
| Label your own shelves, assets or files | Code 128 or Code 39 | they encode letters and digits and need no registration |
| Mark a carton of retail goods | ITF-14 | it is the outer-case code that goes with an EAN-13 |
An EAN-13 or UPC-A number is not something you invent. Retail barcode numbers are allocated by GS1, and a code you made up may already belong to somebody else, which is how a product gets rejected at the point it reaches a shop. Generating the image is the easy half; the number has to be yours. For anything inside your own business, Code 128 sidesteps all of it, because nobody else needs to understand it.
A QR code holding a long URL becomes a dense grid that is harder to read at a distance and at small sizes, so keep the link short. Colour is allowed but contrast decides whether it works, and the generator warns you when the two colours you picked are too close. The information is inside the code itself rather than on our servers, so it cannot expire, cannot be tracked by us, and works for as long as whatever it points at does.
QR Code Scanner goes the other way: drop a photograph or a screenshot, or paste one with Ctrl+V, and the text inside comes back. It reads QR, EAN, UPC, Code 128, Code 39, ITF, Codabar, Data Matrix, PDF417 and Aztec, and it prints a web address as text rather than as a link. That is deliberate. A QR code is the only thing people open without being able to read it first, and a sticker placed over the real code on a parking meter, a restaurant table or a letter is now an ordinary kind of fraud, so the address is shown with anything odd about it named: Punycode in the hostname, a familiar name placed in front of an @, a shortener hiding the destination.
It is also the fastest way to check your own code before it is printed a thousand times. Generate it, read it straight back, and confirm the text is exactly what you meant.
A linear barcode encodes a short number in bars and is read by a laser scanner at a till. A QR code is a square grid that holds any text, including links, WiFi logins and payment requests, and is read by a phone camera.
Not legitimately. Retail numbers are allocated by GS1, and an invented one may already be in use, which gets your product rejected. For internal labelling use Code 128 or Code 39, which nobody registers.
No. The information is encoded in the pattern itself rather than stored on a service, so there is nothing to keep alive. It works for as long as the link or details inside it do.
Usually the quiet zone or the contrast. The blank margin at each end is part of the code, and scanners need dark bars on a light background. Squashing the image or printing it too small are the next two causes.
SVG for anything printed, because it stays sharp at any size and the scanner is measuring the exact width of each bar. PNG is fine on a screen or for pasting into a document at the size you generated it.
No. Both are drawn in your browser, so the link, the WiFi password or the product number you encode is never sent anywhere.
Yes. Drop the photograph or screenshot on the scanner, or paste one with Ctrl+V. That is the only way to read a code that arrived by email, since the code is already on the screen you would otherwise be pointing a camera at.
Scanning is safe; opening what is inside may not be. Stickers placed over genuine codes are common now, so read the code here first and look at the address as text before deciding, rather than tapping a link you cannot see.