QR Code Scanner
Scan QR with camera.
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How scanning a QR code works
Decoding a QR code means finding the three corner squares in the image, correcting for perspective and rotation, sampling the grid of modules, and running Reed–Solomon error correction to recover the payload even if part of the code is damaged or obscured.
What comes out is just data — most often a URL, but a QR code can also hold plain text, contact details, Wi-Fi credentials, calendar events, or a payment string. That is precisely why reading a code before acting on it matters. A printed sticker placed over a legitimate code in a car park or on a restaurant table is a well-documented attack, and the destination is invisible until something decodes it. Seeing the URL as text before your phone opens it is a genuine safety step.
Why we built this tool
You need a scanner when the code is on your screen rather than in front of your camera — in an email, a PDF, a screenshot, or a web page — where a phone cannot easily point at it.
The images involved are often tickets, invoices, or payment codes containing personal detail. Uploading them to a scanning website means transmitting that. Ours decodes in your browser, either from an image you load or from your camera stream, and the camera feed never leaves the device because there is nowhere for it to go — no upload endpoint exists. The tool asks for camera permission only when you choose the live option, and nothing is recorded.
Tips and common mistakes
- Read the decoded URL before opening it; tampered stickers over legitimate codes are a real and common scam.
- Check the domain carefully, including the characters, since lookalike domains are the point of the attack.
- Poor lighting and glare defeat scanning more often than a damaged code does.
- Codes can carry Wi-Fi credentials and payment strings as well as links — know what you are scanning.
Quick start: using QR Code Scanner
- Load an image containing the code, or start the camera to scan one directly.
- Hold the code steady and reasonably square to the camera if scanning live.
- Read the decoded content as text before doing anything with it.
- Check the domain carefully if it is a link — mismatched domains are the sign of a tampered code.
- Copy the content or follow it only once you are satisfied it is genuine.
To create codes rather than read them, use QR Code Generator.