QR Code Generator

What is a QR code?

A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode invented by Denso Wave in 1994 for tracking car parts. The three large squares in the corners let a scanner find and orient the code from any angle, and the data itself is stored in the pattern of modules between them, encoded with Reed–Solomon error correction.

That error correction is why QR codes still scan when scratched, partly covered, or printed with a logo in the middle. There are four levels, recovering from roughly 7, 15, 25, or 30 per cent damage — higher correction means more redundancy and therefore a denser code for the same content. Capacity is generous but not unlimited, and shorter content produces a simpler code that scans faster and prints smaller, which is why a short URL is always a better payload than a long one.

Why we built this tool

QR codes appear on restaurant tables, event tickets, business cards, product packaging, Wi-Fi cards, posters, and invoices. Making one should be trivial, and technically it is.

The trouble is what most free generators actually sell you: a dynamic QR code, which encodes a link to their own domain that redirects to your destination. That gives them a scan log of everyone who uses it, and it stops working entirely if the account lapses or the company folds — after your codes are already printed. Ours generates a static code in your browser containing your URL directly, with nothing in between. No account, no tracking, no expiry, no dependency on us continuing to exist.

Tips and common mistakes

• Keep the payload short — a long URL produces a dense code that scans poorly when printed small.
• Leave a clear quiet zone of blank space around the code or scanners will struggle.
• Use a higher error correction level for anything printed on packaging or exposed to wear.
• Test the printed code with more than one phone before committing to a print run.

Open QR Code Generator with a link

QR Code Generator can be handed its input by the link that opens it, so the page arrives with the work already done. This is meant for assistants and scripts: if a chatbot, an editor extension, or a command-line agent already holds your content, it can build a link instead of asking you to copy and paste into a box.

The payload rides in the fragment — the part of a URL after the #. Browsers never send the fragment to a server, so anything handed over this way stays on your device exactly as a dropped file would. A link that uses the query string instead is rewritten into the fragment by the page before any analytics or ad script can read the address.

Prefix any field with gz — #gztext= — to pass it as gzip-compressed base64url, which fits roughly five to ten times more into the same link. Links stay reliable up to about 8,000 characters; past that, chat apps and address bars start truncating them, and the page says so rather than loading half a document.

One exception to the privacy rule: ?url= tells the page to download the input from an address. That request goes from your browser straight to that server — not through ours — but it does leave your device, and it only works if the server allows cross-origin requests.

• #text= — the text to work on

Example: https://mygadgets.ink/tools/qr-code-generator/#text=...

Quick start: using QR Code Generator

1. Enter the URL or text you want the code to carry — shorter is better.
2. Choose the error correction level; higher if the code will be printed small or may get scuffed.
3. Set the size, allowing a clear quiet zone of white space around the edges.
4. Download the image, preferring a high resolution for print.
5. Scan the printed result with a real phone before sending it to production.

Read existing codes with QR Code Scanner.

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