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QR Code Generator

Developer Tools · Added

Turn a link, a Wi-Fi network, a phone number, an email address, a contact card or any text into a QR code, encoded here in your browser and downloadable as an SVG that stays sharp at any size. There is no account, no shortener in the middle and no expiry date — the code contains your content directly, so it keeps working for as long as the thing it points at does.

What the code should contain

Shorter content makes a code with larger, more scannable modules.

Recovers about 15%. The usual default.

Sets the size of the downloaded image.

Your QR code

QR code for the text entered above
Version
3

29 × 29 modules

Error correction
M

Recovers about 15%. The usual default.

Content
28 bytes

of 42 at this version

Mask
2

Chosen automatically for legibility

What it encodes

https://www.toolboxgenie.com

Test the code with the camera app people will actually use before printing it. If it fails, the usual causes are too little contrast between the two colours, too small a printed size for the amount of content, or a missing quiet zone — the light border is part of the code, not a margin, and cropping it stops scanners finding the pattern.

How to use the qr code generator

  1. 1Choose what the code should contain — plain text, a link, Wi-Fi details, an email, a phone number or a contact card.
  2. 2Fill in the fields. For Wi-Fi and contact cards the tool assembles the exact format scanners expect, including the escaping.
  3. 3Pick an error-correction level. Medium suits a screen; use Quartile or High for anything printed, worn or partly covered.
  4. 4Adjust the colours and module size if you need to, keeping strong contrast between the two.
  5. 5Download the SVG, then test the code with the camera app your audience will actually use before you print it.

Examples

A link to a page

Input
https://www.toolboxgenie.com
Result
A version 2 code at level M — 25 modules square

Shorter URLs produce fewer, larger modules, which scan from further away.

Wi-Fi credentials for guests

Input
Network Guest-5G, WPA, password with a semicolon in it
Result
WIFI:T:WPA;S:Guest-5G;P:pass\;word;;

The semicolon is escaped, which is what stops the scanner truncating the password.

A contact card

Input
Name, organisation, phone and email
Result
A vCard 3.0 payload that adds the contact directly on scanning

More than fits

Input
3,000 characters at level H
Result
An error naming the limit, rather than a code with the end missing

About the qr code generator

What is actually inside a QR code

Three of the corners hold finder patterns, the concentric squares a scanner uses to locate and orient the code. Between them run the timing patterns, alternating light and dark, which tell the scanner how large one module is. The rest is your content, encoded as bytes and interleaved with Reed-Solomon error-correction codewords.

That error correction is why a QR code survives being scratched, folded or partly obscured. The data is split into blocks and spread across the symbol, so damage in one area takes a little from every block rather than destroying any one of them, and the redundancy fills in the rest.

Static codes and the case against dynamic ones

A static code, which is what this tool makes, contains your content. It needs no server, works without a connection, cannot be revoked, and reveals nothing about who scanned it. Its limitation is real: to change where it points, you have to replace the code.

A dynamic code contains a link to a redirect service instead. That buys editability and scan analytics, at the cost of a permanent dependency — the code stops working if that service disappears or the subscription lapses, and every scan passes through a third party who learns the time, the rough location and the device. For a poster you will reprint anyway, or a Wi-Fi code on a kitchen wall, static is the safer choice.

Getting a code to scan reliably

Contrast and size do most of the work. Dark on light, never the reverse; a quiet zone left intact; and enough physical size for the density of the content. Shortening what the code carries helps more than any other single change, because fewer bytes means a lower version, which means fewer and larger modules.

The rest is testing. Scan the finished article — the printed flyer, the etched sign, the screen it will actually appear on — with an ordinary phone camera at the distance and lighting people will use. A code that only scans when held still at 20 cm under good light is a code that will not scan in a restaurant.

Frequently asked questions

Does this code expire, or track scans?
No to both, and neither is possible here. Your content is encoded into the pattern itself, so the code works offline, forever, with nothing in the middle. Services that offer editable or trackable codes work differently: they encode a link to their own server, which redirects onward — which is what allows them to count scans, change the destination later, and stop working if the account lapses or the company folds.
Which error-correction level should I choose?
Medium for a screen or a clean digital file. Quartile or High for print, for anything that might get scuffed or wet, and for any code you intend to place a logo on top of. Higher levels reconstruct more damage — High recovers about 30% — but they use capacity to do it, so the same content produces a denser code that needs to be printed larger.
How small can I print it?
The usual guidance is that the code should be about a tenth of the scanning distance: readable at one metre means roughly a 10 cm code. Denser codes need more size, so shortening the content is the most effective way to make a code scan easily. Always test the printed article rather than the screen version, because print contrast and paper finish both matter.
Why does the white border matter?
That margin is called the quiet zone and it is part of the code, not decoration. Scanners locate the pattern by finding the three corner squares against clear space, so cropping the border or placing the code tight against other artwork is one of the most common reasons a technically perfect code will not scan.
Can I change the colours or add a logo?
Colours yes, within limits: keep the dark modules genuinely dark against a genuinely light background, and never invert them — many scanners assume dark on light. A logo is possible at a high error-correction level, but this tool does not add one, because covering the wrong part of a code produces something that scans on the designer's phone and fails on a customer's.
Is what I type sent anywhere?
No. The encoding runs entirely in this page, which is the reason the Wi-Fi option can exist at all — a generator that builds your code on its server sees your network password. Nothing you enter here is uploaded, logged or stored, and the SVG is assembled in your browser.

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