Free tools
Free QR code generator
Make a QR code for a link, WiFi or your contact details, add your logo and colours, and download it as a PNG or a print-ready SVG. No account, no watermark, and nothing you type is uploaded to us.
A shorter link makes a bigger, easier-to-scan code
A QR code stores characters, and the more of them it has to hold, the more squares it needs. Cram more squares into the same printed area and each one gets smaller, and small squares are exactly what a camera loses in poor light or at an angle.
Two things shorten a link without moving it. The tracking tail your analytics tool bolted on means nothing to the browser, so it comes off. And a QR code has a denser mode for capitals and digits that it cannot use for lowercase, so putting the domain in capitals lets more of the link ride in it. Domain names ignore case, which is why the destination is unchanged. The path keeps the case you typed, because servers do not ignore that.
https://www.version2.hr/portfolio/?utm_source=flyer&utm_medium=print37 squares across
VERSION2.HR/portfolio/25 squares across
The same page at the other end. Twelve fewer squares across, so at one printed size each square comes out half again as wide.
Seven kinds of code
What each QR code does when someone scans it.
A QR code is only text, and the phone decides what to do from how that text begins. Each kind here writes the standard form, so it works with the camera app people already have.
- 01
Link
https://…Opens a web page. The usual choice for menus, flyers, packaging and a sign on a door.
- 02
WiFi
WIFI:Joins a network without anyone typing the password. Guests scan it at a reception desk or on a table card.
- 03
Contact
vCard 3.0Saves your name, phone, email and company straight to the address book, the way a vCard file does.
- 04
Email
mailto:Opens a new message to your address, with the subject and the first lines already written if you want them.
- 05
Phone
tel:Dials your number. Useful on a van, a shop window or anywhere a person would otherwise copy it by hand.
- 06
SMS
SMSTO:Opens a text message to your number with the words filled in, for replies such as a booking keyword.
- 07
Text
plain textShows a short note on the screen. It needs no connection, so it works for a serial number or an instruction.
Questions
What people ask before they print one.
Can I change where it points after it is printed?
No. The address is stored in the pattern itself, so a new destination means a new code. Services that let you change it later are really pointing the code at their own redirect, which works until you stop paying them or they close. For a sticker on a door, the address baked in is the safer of the two.
How small can I print it?
It depends on how much you encoded. The readout under the code gives you the minimum width for what you have made, and roughly how far away a phone will still pick it up. As a rule a code reads from about ten times its own width, so a 40 mm sticker is good for something under half a metre.
Why did mine stop scanning when I added a logo?
A QR code can lose a share of itself and still be read, which is what the damage tolerance setting controls. A logo in the middle takes that damage out of one solid block, and a solid block is much harder to recover from than the same number of squares scattered around. You get a warning here before that line is crossed.
What happens to the logo I upload?
Nothing leaves your device. The code is drawn in your browser, and your logo is read there and never sent to us. Closing the tab is all it takes to be rid of it.
Is it free, and what is the catch?
It is free, there is no account, and nothing you make is stored or watermarked. We build web software for a living, and this is a working sample of it.
Will the code stop working after a while?
It won’t. The code is static, which means the address or the details are written into the pattern itself and nothing of ours stands between the scan and the destination. It keeps working for as long as the page it points to exists, whether or not this website does.
Should I download the SVG or the PNG?
For anything printed, take the SVG. It’s a vector file, so a printer can scale it to a business card or a poster and the edges stay sharp. The PNG is for screens, documents and places that won’t accept an SVG, and the larger size is the safer one if it might be enlarged.
Can I see how many people scanned it?
Not from here, because the code goes straight to your address and we never see the scan. The link cleanup also removes campaign tags such as utm_source, so a count has to come from the address itself. Point the code at a page only the code leads to, such as a short address made for the flyer, and read its visits in your own analytics.
Let’s talk
Need more than a QR code?
We build websites, online stores and the software behind them. If you have something in mind, tell us what it is and we will come back with a straight answer on scope and price.
- office@version2.hr
- Phone
- +385 99 561 7706