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Text to QR Code Generator

Turn plain text into a QR code — a note, a serial number, a licence key, a message. Scanning it shows the text itself rather than opening anything.

Your data never leaves your browser. This tool runs entirely on your device.

How much text fits

A QR code holds at most 2,953 bytes, and only at the lowest error-correction level in the largest symbol there is. Raising the error correction lowers the ceiling, because the redundancy occupies the same space as the data.

Note that the unit is bytes, not characters. Text is encoded as UTF-8, where an unaccented Latin letter costs one byte, an accented one or a Cyrillic or Greek letter costs two, most Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters cost three, and an emoji costs four. A 500-character message in English and a 500-character message in Japanese are very different propositions.

L: 2,953 bytes   M: 2,331   Q: 1,663   H: 1,273

A long code is not a usable code

Fitting inside the limit and scanning reliably are different questions. Near the maximum, a QR code is a 177×177 grid, and on a phone screen or a printed label each module becomes too small for an ordinary camera to resolve — the code is valid, and no scanner in the room can read it.

As a rough guide, text under about 300 bytes stays comfortable at any reasonable size. Past that, either print larger or reconsider what belongs in the code. A long block of text is usually better hosted somewhere and linked to.

Printing a code that actually scans

Most unscannable QR codes fail for one of three reasons, and all three are avoidable before the file goes to print.

The quiet zone is the first: a QR code needs a clear margin of about four modules on every side, and a design that crops tight to the black edge breaks the scan. The download here keeps that margin, so place the image as it is rather than trimming it.

  • Print at 2 cm square or larger for a code held in the hand, and roughly a tenth of the reading distance for anything scanned from further away — a code read from 2 m needs about 20 cm.
  • Download the SVG for anything printed. It is resolution-independent, so it stays sharp at poster size; the PNG is fixed at the pixel size you chose.
  • Keep it dark-on-light. Scanners look for dark modules on a light background, and inverting that stops many phone cameras cold.
  • Do not stretch it. A QR code is square, and a non-uniform scale distorts the finder patterns the scanner uses to orient itself.

What the error-correction level changes

Every QR code carries redundant data so it still reads when part of it is dirty, torn or covered. The level sets how much: L recovers about 7% of the symbol, M about 15%, Q about 25% and H about 30%.

That redundancy is not free — it takes up space in the same symbol, so a higher level means either fewer characters or a denser grid of smaller modules. Denser modules are harder for a cheap camera to resolve, which is why cranking it to H is not automatically safer.

L ≈ 7%   M ≈ 15%   Q ≈ 25%   H ≈ 30%
  • On a screen, or on paper that will stay clean: L or M.
  • On a sticker, a label, a window or anything that gets handled or weathered: Q or H.
  • If you overlay a logo in the centre, use H — the logo is damage as far as the scanner is concerned, and must cover no more than about 30% of the code.

Frequently asked questions

Do line breaks survive the encoding?

Yes. Newlines are encoded as part of the text and reappear when the code is scanned, so multi-line notes and addresses keep their shape. Trailing blank lines are trimmed before encoding, since they only consume capacity without showing up as anything.

Can I encode emoji, accents or non-Latin scripts?

Yes. The text is encoded as UTF-8 in byte mode, which covers every Unicode character. The only cost is capacity — those characters take two to four bytes each rather than one, so the same visible length of text fills the code considerably faster.

What happens when someone scans it?

The scanner displays the text and usually offers to copy or share it. It does not open a browser, because there is nothing to open: unlike a URL code, this contains no address and triggers no navigation. If you paste a link into this tool, most scanners will recognise it and offer to open it anyway.

Can you see what I encode, or track scans?

No. The code is generated by JavaScript running in your own browser, and what you type is never sent anywhere. That also means there is nothing to count: because the code contains your data rather than a redirect through us, scans do not pass through any server we control and cannot be tracked.

Is the QR code free to use commercially?

Yes. QR Code is a registered trademark of Denso Wave, but the specification is open and Denso Wave does not require a licence or a royalty to generate or use the codes. Put them on packaging, menus, business cards or advertising without asking anyone.

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