Text QR code generator

How to make a text QR code

1. Type or paste your content into Text. Line breaks are kept, so a short list or a two-line note comes out the way you wrote it.
2. Watch the capacity line under the preview: it shows bytes, version and module count as you type and warns near the limit.
3. Leave Error correction on Auto for short text; pick L only if a long passage will not fit at a higher level.
4. Open the Style panel for a Style preset, colours or a logo; a logo switches error correction to H, which reduces capacity.
5. Wait for the badge to read Verified: scans as text, then choose Download PNG, Download SVG or Download PDF.

Text QR code generator details

A text QR code holds a string of characters and nothing else: no address, no format prefix, no instruction to the phone. The generator encodes whatever you type as UTF-8 bytes, so the scanner receives exactly the characters you entered, including line breaks, punctuation and non-Latin letters. With no link involved, the phone opens nothing; it simply shows the text.

What scanners do with plain text

The iPhone camera and Google Lens on Android both show the content in a panel, usually with a copy button and a search option. Nothing happens without a tap, and no app opens on its own. If the text looks like a web address most phones offer to open it, but the reliable way to make a link is the URL generator, which stores the https:// prefix cameras look for.

Capacity and the live meter

The byte-mode limits are 2,953 bytes at error correction L, 2,331 at M, 1,663 at Q and 1,273 at H. Those figures are for a version 40 code, 177 modules on each side, far too fine to print. The meter under the preview counts bytes as you type: a 40-character coupon code sits in version 3 (29 × 29 modules) at M, while a 150-word paragraph of around 900 bytes needs version 24, 109 modules wide. Plain letters and digits are one byte each; accented Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Hebrew letters take two; Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters take three; emoji take four. The same message in Japanese therefore produces a denser code than in English.

Realistic uses

• Serial numbers and asset tags. A code on a machine that reads SN-2026-0417 lets a technician copy it into a form without typing errors.
• Instructions. A short reset procedure on a device, or a care label on a garment.
• Coupon and voucher codes. The customer scans, copies and pastes at checkout; nothing needs to be online at that moment.
• Poems, dedications and notes. A few lines on a wedding favour, a greeting card or a plaque.

Why long text is a problem

A code that is too dense fails on paper. A module in a version 20 code (97 across) is a third the width of one in a version 4 code (33 across) printed at the same size, and a camera needs each module to cover several pixels. Keep to a few hundred bytes for anything printed small; for more, put the text on a web page and link to it. The size guide gives the minimum print width for each module count and scanning distance.

This code never expires

The characters are stored inside the code itself, so what someone reads in five years is exactly what you typed today. This is a static QR code: the data is written into the pattern, so scanning it needs no server, no account and no subscription. There is nothing to renew and no redirect that can be switched off, which is why a code made here keeps working for as long as the printed copy exists. The trade-off is honest: a static code cannot be edited after printing and does not count scans. If you need either, encode a link to a page you control. Read how static and dynamic codes differ, and if a code you already have has stopped working, see why QR codes expire.

Styling, formats and print size

Every code can be styled in the Style panel: six dot shapes, corner shapes, solid or gradient colours, a transparent background, a quiet zone of 0–8 modules, and your own logo up to 30 percent of the width. A contrast checker warns below 3:1 and blocks downloads below 1.5:1, and after each change the preview is decoded again so the badge tells you whether the styled code still scans.

Print size: as a rule of thumb the code should be at least one tenth of the scanning distance wide, with the quiet zone included.

Short text up to about 50 bytes prints well at 2–3 cm; a code above version 10 (57 modules) should be at least 5 cm across and downloaded as SVG or PDF for a print shop.

The QR code size guide has a calculator for module size, DPI and distance.

Frequently asked questions