Event QR code generator

• Simulated captures

  The check prints the code into simulated photographs, taken from far away, out of focus, at an angle and in poor light, and reads each one the way a strict phone reader would. A code that only scans in perfect conditions does not pass.

• Your size and your distance

  Tell it how far away people will stand and how wide the code will be printed, and it holds the design to both. The answer comes back in plain terms: the distance in centimetres it still reads from, at the width in millimetres you chose.

• Contrast you can measure

  Every colour pair has its contrast ratio beside it, and the studio says when the modules are lighter than the background, which many phones cannot read. A transparent background is measured against white, with a reminder to check it against whatever it is printed on.

• Room for a logo

  A logo covers part of the code, and error correction is what lets a phone read around it. The studio suggests level H, which leaves the most room, keeps clear space around the logo, and runs the check with the logo in place.

• Three answers

  Scans well, scans with cautions, or will not scan reliably, each with the reason and a fix where there is one. Change the design afterwards and the result is marked as out of date until the check runs again.

• Modules and corners

  Fourteen module shapes, from squares and dots to bars, hexagons and stars, and corner squares built from nine outer rings and eight centres, each offered only where phones still find it among the modules you chose, so the three corners can match a brand or stand apart from it.

• Colour and gradients

  Solid colour, linear and radial gradients or a pattern, spread across the whole code or within each module, with their own colours for the corner squares and the background, which can be transparent.

• Logos and icons

  Add your own logo as a PNG, JPEG or WebP, or one of sixteen built-in icons for links, Wi-Fi, menus, music and the rest. Choose how much clear space it gets, whether the modules under it are cleared, and whether it sits on a plate.

• Frames and captions

  Eleven frames, from a banner and a speech bubble to a ticket, a hang tag and a stamp, each with a caption such as “Scan me” to tell people what the code is for.

• A proof at true size

  The code is shown as a printer's proof. Hold a bank card against the screen to calibrate it once, and the proof is drawn at the width it will print, so you can judge the size before paper is involved.

• Brand kits and saved designs

  Keep your colours, your logo and your favourite designs in a library: a file you save and open, or a library in this browser, which stays off until you turn it on and is deleted when you turn it off. A design holds the look of a code and never what it says, so a library file is safe to send to a colleague.

• Columns into content

  Write the content as a template that mixes text with column names in curly brackets, so a column of product numbers becomes one web address per row. File names follow a template too, with characters a file name cannot hold replaced and repeats numbered.

• Exports in other encodings

  A file in UTF-8, as Google Sheets and Numbers save it, is read as it is, and so is Excel's UTF-16 Unicode Text. Any other file is read in the encoding Excel on Windows saves CSV in for the page's language: Shift_JIS on the Japanese page, GBK on the Chinese page, Windows-1256 on the Arabic page and Windows-1252 on the rest. The studio says when it has done this. If letters still come out wrong, choose the file's encoding from the list, which also offers Big5, Korean and Cyrillic.

• A ZIP with a manifest

  Download every code as its own file, in the format you choose, in one ZIP with a manifest listing what became of each row. A row that could not be made is named there rather than quietly missing.

• Label sheets

  Or lay the batch out as a PDF of label sheets in common A4 and US Letter layouts, from small address labels to business cards and round stickers, ready for a desktop printer.

• For a print shop

  PDF and EPS can be written in CMYK, and a PDF can carry bleed and crop marks. SVG keeps every module a sharp shape at any size, for signage or anything that will be scaled.

• Printed at its real size

  A single code can go straight to your printer at the width it was checked for, and a PNG records its print resolution, so a layout program places it at that size too.

• Nothing is sent

  What you type, the logo you add, the spreadsheet you open and the picture you scan are all handled on your machine. There is no account and no copy on a server, because no step of making a code needs one.

• Content is never kept

  The studio never stores what a code says. Designs and brand kits are kept only when you ask: in a library file you save, or in a library in this browser that stays off until you turn it on and is deleted when you turn it off. Either one holds the look of a code and none of its content.

• No analytics on these pages

  The studio's pages load no analytics script, and their content security policy allows connections to this site alone. Your browser's developer tools show both.

• Source you can read

  Everything that makes, checks and reads the codes is published under the MIT licence, on GitHub and as an npm package, and it has no runtime dependencies, so there is nothing underneath it you cannot read.

Questions worth asking.

Is it really free?

Yes. There is no account, no plan and no trial, and no limit on how many codes you make or how often they are scanned. A code made here is yours to print and use, in commercial work or anywhere else, with no watermark and no credit asked for.

Will my QR code stop working?

Not because of anything here. The code holds its content directly, so it works for as long as that content does: a web link works while the page is up, and a Wi-Fi code works until the password changes. Nothing on our side is involved once the code is made.

Why don't you offer dynamic codes or scan analytics?

Both need a server in the path of every scan. That server is what lets a site count scans and change destinations, and it is also what lets a code stop working when the plan stops being paid for, or when the company behind it closes. We would rather a printed code never depend on us. The two things people want from dynamic codes are still possible: point the code at an address on your own site and redirect it, and add campaign tags so your own analytics counts the visits.

Can I change where a code goes after it is printed?

Only if the code points at something you control. Use an address on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and change the redirect behind it whenever you need to; the studio writes that redirect for the common hosts. Use a temporary status, 302 or 307, for a destination you may change, because browsers remember a permanent one.

How do I count how many people scanned it?

Add campaign tags (source, medium and campaign) to the link, and the visits show up in whatever analytics your site already uses. The studio adds the tags for you, and the figures stay yours.

Will adding a logo stop it scanning?

Not if there is room for it. Error correction lets a phone read a code with part of it covered, and level H leaves the most room, about 30 per cent of the code. The scan check reads the code with the logo in place, so you find out before printing rather than after.

Which colours scan reliably?

Dark modules on a light background, with strong contrast between them. Many phones cannot read a code whose modules are lighter than its background, and a pale colour on white often fails in poor light. The studio shows the contrast ratio for every pair you choose and says when it is too low.

How big should I print it?

That depends on how far away people will be. Enter the furthest scanning distance and the printed width, and the scan check says whether the code holds up. A short link makes a simpler code, which reads from further away at the same size.

Does the scan check guarantee every phone will read it?

No check can. It reads the code through simulated captures that are harder than most real ones, which catches the common failures. Before a large print run, scan a test print with the phones your audience is likely to use.

Is a Wi-Fi password safe in a QR code?

The password is written into the code as text, so anyone who scans it can read it, and a clear photo of the code is as good as the password. Every Wi-Fi code works this way. Put it where you would be content to write the password on the wall, and change the password if the code ends up somewhere it should not be.

How can I tell whether a code is safe to open?

Scan it here first. The studio shows the full address or content and what a phone would do with it, with warnings for look-alike addresses, redirect services, payments and links that run a script, all before anything is opened.

How many codes can I make at once?

Up to ten thousand rows of a CSV file in one batch, as a ZIP of files with a manifest or as a PDF of label sheets. A longer list can be split into several files and made one batch at a time.

Can I send the codes to a print shop?

Yes. Save as PDF or EPS in CMYK, with bleed and crop marks on a PDF if the shop asks for them, or as SVG, which stays sharp at any size.

Is anything I type uploaded?

No. The code is made, drawn and checked in your browser, and a picture you scan is read there too. The network panel in your browser's developer tools shows nothing carrying it away, and the offline file does the same job with the network switched off.

Does it work without an internet connection?

The offline file does. Download it from the release listing, open it from your own disk, and every part of it works with the network off.

What are Micro QR and rectangular Micro QR?

Smaller symbols for printing that has no room for a QR code, such as a component label or the edge of a small package. Most phone cameras cannot read either, so the studio says so whenever you choose one. Use them only where the reader is a scanner you know supports them.

Which file format should I choose?

SVG for anything that will be scaled or edited, such as signage or a website. PDF or EPS for a print shop. PNG for documents, slides and email, at the width you need. JPEG and WebP when a system will take nothing else.

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