All tools

QR code reader

Read a QR code or barcode from a photo, a screenshot or your camera, and see where a link leads before you open it. Free, with no account or uploads.

Read a code

Any QR code or barcode: a photo, a screenshot, or your camera.

Drop a photo or screenshot of a QR code or barcode here, or paste one. It is read on this device and never sent anywhere, and nothing opens until you choose.

How it works and help

A little help along the way

Follow these steps. Every option is explained underneath, and nothing you type leaves your device.

  1. Say what it should openWebsite (a page, a menu, a form), Wi-Fi, Contact or Text. An email, a phone number, a text message, an event, a place, a social profile, a payment or a barcode is under More kinds. Fill in its fields; the code is drawn as you type.
  2. See that it scansEach code is read back on your device, three times: as made, small and a little out of focus, and in poor light. The page says It scans only when every reading is exactly what you typed, and what the code does in words. Details shows each reading and exactly what is in the code.
  3. Make it yoursPress Design it for the whole window: a ready-made style, colours and gradients, and the shapes of the modules and the three eyes. Anything that would make it harder to scan is said, with a button that fixes it.
  4. Add your logo and a frameChoose a logo (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF or SVG) or a plain mark. Room is made for it in the middle, and the code is made as large and as strong as it needs. Add a frame with words such as Scan me.
  5. Say how it will be usedOn a screen, Printed (4 cm wide) or Poster or sign (15 cm wide). Under More options, set any size in pixels, millimetres or inches at a number of dots to the inch, the error correction and the margin. The help says how far away a printed code scans from.
  6. Download itPNG for documents and slides; SVG, PDF or EPS for print and design programs, sharp at any size, with CMYK values for your printer if you like. Or copy it. Scan the printed code with your phone before you print many.

Questions people ask

Is my picture sent anywhere?
No. The picture, or the camera's view, is read on your device by zxing-cpp and never kept or sent.
Does it open the link in the code?
Never by itself. You see the whole address with its site picked out, so you can tell a code stuck over another before you press Open.
Can I change a code I have read?
Yes: Edit and restyle opens it in the generator with its fields filled in, to change what it holds or how it looks.

This page is the QR code generator, opened for this one job; every other tool it has is one press away. Each of its settings is explained on the QR code generator's own page.

Read the step-by-step guide