QR Code Generator
Generate a custom QR code from any text or link, with size, error-correction level, colors and one-click PNG download.
Tip: dark foreground on light background scans best. Reversed colors work on some scanners, but not all.
What is it
A QR code is a square pattern of black and white modules that phones read with their camera. You feed it text — a link, a phone number, plain notes — and it turns that text into a scanable square. Higher error correction means the code stays readable even if part of it is stained, covered or printed small.
Notes & fun facts
QR stands for Quick Response. It was invented for the automotive industry in the 1990s because engineers needed codes faster to scan than old barcodes. Today those square patterns park yourself on restaurant menus, train tickets and Wi-Fi login screens.
Origin & history
The QR code was designed in 1994 by Masahiro Hara at Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota supplier Denso, in Japan. It stayed an industrial tool until smartphone cameras made it consumer-facing around 2010, and China turned it into a payment standard with Alipay and WeChat in the early 2010s.