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QR Code Scanner Online

Scan a QR code or barcode with your camera, or from an image or screenshot. Read on your device and never uploaded, with every link checked before you open it.

Camera, upload, paste or drop · Several codes per image · Nothing leaves your device
Scan a QR code or barcodeDecoder ready

or drop an image anywhere on this page · Ctrl+V pastes a screenshotSeveral images at once are fine

Images are read in this browser and never uploaded.

What it reads
  • QR Code
  • Micro QR
  • rMQR
  • Data Matrix
  • Aztec
  • PDF417
  • EAN · UPC
  • Code 128 · 39

Every code in a picture is found. A link is shown, never opened by itself.

Try a sample

How do I scan a QR code from an image or screenshot?

Drop the image on this page, paste it with Ctrl+V (⌘V on a Mac) or choose Upload image: the scanner finds every code in it, outlines and numbers each one on the picture, and reads what it says. A photo, a screenshot, a picture saved from a chat or a PDF page you took a screenshot of all work.

On a phone, take a screenshot of the code, open this page and choose Upload image, then the screenshot. Several images can go in at once, and one image can hold several codes: a poster with a menu link, the Wi-Fi and a contact gives you three cards.

QR code scanner reading a screenshot with three codes: a link with its real domain, a Wi-Fi password and a contactQR code scanner reading a screenshot with three codes: a link with its real domain, a Wi-Fi password and a contactEvery code, numberedEach code in the picture is outlined, and its number matches its card below.What each code holdsA link, a Wi-Fi network, a contact: the list says what each code is before you read its card.Where the link goesThe real domain lit in the address, look-alike letters and decoys marked, and nothing opened.Nothing uploadedThe picture is read by your browser, on your device: no image or result is sent anywhere.
A screenshot with three codes, read on the device: each code outlined and numbered, then what it says. Select a number to see what each part shows.

How do I scan a QR code on a laptop or PC?

Choose Scan with camera to use the webcam, or take a screenshot of a code on your screen and paste it here. No app to install: the scanner runs in the browser on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS.

A code on your own screen (a sign-in code, a code in an email or a PDF) is easiest as a screenshot copied to the clipboard:

Windows

Win + Shift + SCtrl + V

Snipping Tool: drag over the code

Mac

⌘ + Ctrl + Shift + 4⌘ + V

Drag over the code; Ctrl puts it on the clipboard

ChromeOS

Ctrl + Shift + Show windowsCtrl + V

Choose Partial screenshot

Linux (GNOME)

Print ScreenCtrl + V

Select the area; GNOME copies it to the clipboard

With a webcam, hold the code about 15–30 cm from the lens and keep it flat and steady. A code on a phone screen reads best with the screen's brightness up.

How do I see the Wi-Fi password in a QR code?

Use this page as a Wi-Fi QR code scanner: the card shows the network's name and password, each ready to copy. A Wi-Fi QR code is plain text in the form WIFI:T:WPA;S:name;P:password;;, first described by the open-source ZXing project and standardised by the Wi-Fi Alliance as the Wi-Fi URI in its WPA3 Specification (section 7).

We never join the network: a web page can't, and shouldn't. To join, point an iPhone's Camera at the code and tap the banner, or on Android scan it from Settings → Network & internet → Internet. To make a code for your own network, an iPhone's Passwords app shows Show Network QR Code, and Android's Share button under a saved network does the same.

Special characters: ZXing's format puts a backslash before ; , : \ and " in a name or password, the WPA3 format writes ; as %3B. The scanner reads both.

WIFI:T:WPA;S:Cafe Guest 5G;P:espresso-2026;H:true;;

TSecurity
WPA for any password network (WPA2 or WPA3), WEP for old routers, nopass or nothing for an open network. Android also writes SAE for WPA3.
SNetwork name (SSID)
The only field every code must have.
PPassword
Shown in plain text: anyone who scans the code can read it.
HHidden
true when the network doesn't broadcast its name.
RTransition Disable
WPA3 only: 1 tells devices never to fall back to WPA2.
KSAE-PK key
WPA3 only: the network's public key, so a look-alike hotspot can't pose as it.

Is it safe to scan a QR code?

Scanning only reads text: the risk starts when you open the link, enter details or install something. Criminals stick fake codes over real ones on parking meters and chargers, and send codes by email and post, a QR code scam called quishing (QR phishing). The FBI and the FTC give the same first advice: look at the link before you open it.

That's the scanner's main job. It never opens a link on its own, shows the domain that decides where you land, and names each trick it finds in one sentence.

Parking meters

Austin, Texas found fake QR stickers on more than two dozen pay stations in 2022; the UK's Action Fraud logged 784 quishing reports and almost £3.5 million lost in a year, mostly in car parks.

EV chargers

In the Loiret, France, fake codes on charging stations collected card details without ever starting the charger (Gendarmerie nationale, 2024).

Email and post

Codes in emails that claim to be from a bank, an authority or Microsoft 365, and a parcel you never ordered with a code to "find out who sent it" (FTC, 2025).

UPI payments

A buyer sends a seller a QR code "to receive money": scanning it and entering the UPI PIN sends money instead (RBI, Delhi Police).

What can a QR code contain?

Any text up to about 3 KB, and phones agree on a few formats that turn it into an action. The scanner reads each into fields, and nothing happens until you choose it.

ContentStarts withDefined byThe scanner shows
Linkhttps://RFC 3986The real domain, look-alikes, decoys, short links
Wi-FiWIFI:ZXing, Wi-Fi Alliance (WPA3)Network, password, security
UPI paymentupi://payNPCI UPI Linking SpecificationPayee, amount, note, signature
Shop payment (Pix, QRIS, VietQR, PromptPay…)000201EMVCo QR Code SpecificationMerchant, amount, bank, checksum
SEPA transferBCDEPC069-12Beneficiary, IBAN check, amount
ContactBEGIN:VCARD, MECARD:RFC 6350, NTT DOCOMOName, phones, emails; save as .vcf
EventBEGIN:VEVENTRFC 5545Times in your zone; save as .ics
Phone, text, emailtel:, sms:, mailto:RFC 3966, 5724, 6068The number or address, then your app
Locationgeo:RFC 5870Coordinates, OpenStreetMap
Two-factor keyotpauth://Google Key URI FormatService and account; the secret hidden
Crypto paymentbitcoin:, ethereum:BIP 321, EIP-681Address and amount
Passkey sign-inFIDO:/FIDO CTAP 2.2That it's for your phone's camera

Each icon is the one on that kind's result card, in the colour the card takes: green when its check passes, amber or red when it warns.

How do I check a payment QR code before paying?

Scan it here first: the card shows who gets the money, the amount if the code sets one, and whether the code's checksum is intact. Then pay in your bank or wallet app, and check that the name it shows matches the shop.

A sticker over a shop's real code is the common trick, so the name your app shows matters more than the one printed on the sign.

A made-up Pix code, field by field: each field is a two-digit ID, a two-digit length, then the value

00020126370014br.gov.bcb.pix0115pix@example.com520400005303986540512.505802BR5912Cafe Exemplo6009Sao Paulo62070503***6304189B

  • Who gets paid
  • How much
  • Checksum
  • About the code
00FormatAlways 01, and always first.
01
26Merchant accountThe scheme (br.gov.bcb.pix) and the Pix key, each nested as ID, length, value.
pix@example.com
52Merchant category0000 when not given.
0000
53CurrencyAn ISO 4217 number: 986 is the Brazilian real.
986
54AmountOnly when the code sets one.
12.50
58CountryTwo letters (ISO 3166-1).
BR
59Merchant namePix apps show the name from Pix's directory instead.
Cafe Exemplo
60CityWhere the merchant is.
Sao Paulo
62Additional dataThe reference label (sub-ID 05).
***
63Checksum (CRC-16)Computed over everything before it, 6304 included: change one character and it no longer matches.
189B

The scanner recomputes it: 189B, the same as in the code.

UPI (India)

The UPI ID and the name written in the code, and whether the code is signed: your UPI app warns when a merchant's code carries no signature. You never scan a code or enter your PIN to receive money.

Pix (Brazil)

The Pix key or, for a dynamic code, only the address your bank loads the charge from: its amount isn't in the image. Your bank shows the receiver's name from Pix's directory, not the one in the code.

VietQR (Vietnam)

The bank (by its NAPAS number) and the account, the amount and the transfer note.

QRIS, PromptPay, PayNow

The merchant, its city and the amount, and the phone number or ID a PromptPay or PayNow transfer goes to.

SEPA transfer (EPC QR, GiroCode)

The beneficiary, the IBAN with its check digits verified, the amount in euros and the reference.

Russia and Switzerland

GOST R 56042 payment codes (payee, account, BIC, sum in roubles) and Swiss QR-bills (creditor, IBAN, amount).

What does a barcode number tell you?

A product barcode (EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC) is a number: the scanner reads it, checks its last digit and names the GS1 office that issued the company's numbers. That office is not the country of origin: GS1 says the prefix "does not indicate that the product was manufactured in a specific country". A product made in Vietnam can carry a number from GS1 US, and the other way round.

Numbers starting with 978 or 979 are books (ISBN). Codes on medicine and fresh food packs (Data Matrix or GS1-128) often carry more: the product number, the batch, the expiry date and a serial number, each shown on its own line.

A made-up EAN-13 number, part by part
  • 952GS1 prefixThe GS1 office that issued the company's numbers, not where the product was made. 952 is GS1's range for examples; 400–440 is GS1 Germany.
  • 1234CompanyThe company's number, from that office.
  • 56789ItemThe product, numbered by the company.
  • 9Check digitWorked out from the twelve digits before it, so a misread digit shows up.

Odd places count once, even places three times: 121. The step up to the next ten, 130, is the check digit: 9.

Why won't a QR code scan?

Most codes fail for the same few reasons, and each has a fix:

  • Blurred or too small

    Move closer so the code fills most of the frame, or zoom; hold still for a second.

  • Glare or shadow

    Tilt the code or the phone, or turn on the light in the camera view.

  • No margin

    A QR code needs a blank border four modules wide; keep it in view and uncovered.

  • Light on dark or mirrored

    The 2006 edition of the standard allows both; the scanner tries both ways.

  • Damaged

    Up to about 30% of a code can be restored (error correction level H); beyond that, no scanner can read it.

  • An iPhone photo (HEIC)

    Only Safari opens HEIC images: take a screenshot of the photo, or set Camera → Formats → Most Compatible.

  • Odd characters in the text

    The generator used a character set it didn't declare; the raw text shows exactly what's stored.

How does a QR code work?

A QR code is a grid of black and white squares (modules) that a camera finds by its three corner squares, the finder patterns, from any angle. It was invented at Denso Wave in Japan in 1994 (QR stands for quick response) and is an international standard, ISO/IEC 18004 (fourth edition, 2024). Denso Wave doesn't charge for codes that follow the standard.

Codes come in 40 sizes (versions), from 21 × 21 modules to 177 × 177. Reed-Solomon error correction stores extra data so a scratched or partly covered code still reads, which is why codes with a logo in the middle work. The same text can make codes that look different, so you can't tell what a code holds by looking at it.

Inside a QR code: version 2, 25 × 25 modules, holding https://www.example.com
  1. Finder patternsThree corner squares that give the code's position, size and angle.
  2. Timing patternsAlternating modules between the finders that mark out the grid.
  3. Alignment patternA smaller square that keeps a curved or tilted code on the grid.
  4. Format informationThe error-correction level and the mask, written twice.
  5. Data and error correctionThe text, plus the Reed-Solomon data that repairs it.
  6. Quiet zoneA blank border at least 4 modules wide.
  7. Version informationOnly in larger codes; this one has none.

40

sizes, 21 × 21 to 177 × 177 modules

7,089

digits at most (4,296 letters, 2,953 bytes)

30%

of a code restorable at level H

1994

invented at Denso Wave, Japan

One link at each level, with a sticker as large as it can take and still be read
  • QR code at error-correction level L with 7% of it covered by a stickerLrepairs up to 7%7% coveredReads
  • QR code at error-correction level M with 14% of it covered by a stickerMrepairs up to 15%14% coveredReads
  • QR code at error-correction level Q with 18% of it covered by a stickerQrepairs up to 25%18% coveredReads
  • QR code at error-correction level H with 24% of it covered by a stickerHrepairs up to 30%24% coveredReads
  • QR code at error-correction level M with 25% of it covered by a stickerMrepairs up to 15%25% coveredCan't be read

Read by ZXing, the decoder this page uses. A sticker also hides some of the code's fixed patterns, so in practice a little less than the level's share survives.

The family also has Micro QR (one finder pattern, up to 17 × 17 modules) and rectangular rMQR codes (ISO/IEC 23941), which the scanner reads too, along with Data Matrix, Aztec and PDF417.

How does this QR code reader work, and is anything uploaded?

Nothing is uploaded. Your image is read inside your browser, in a background worker on your own device: the page sends no picture, no text and no result anywhere, and nothing is stored once you close the tab.

Chrome on Android, macOS and ChromeOS, and Edge on a Mac, have a barcode reader built in (BarcodeDetector), and the scanner uses it. Other browsers (Chrome on Windows, Firefox, Safari) get ZXing, an open-source QR code decoder compiled to WebAssembly, loaded from our own site the first time you scan. The camera needs your permission, and turns off as soon as a code is found or you leave the page.

Where your picture goes: from the camera, a file or the clipboard to the result cards, all in this browser tab

Your device · this browser tab

  1. Camera, image or paste
  2. Background workerWeb Worker
  3. BarcodeDetectorBuilt into the browserZXingWebAssembly
  4. Reads what it saysLink · Wi-Fi network · Payment code · Contact
  5. Result cards
dnsrobot.net
  • Sends the ZXing decoder, once, if your browser needs it
  • Receives no picture, text or result

BarcodeDetector

Chrome on Android, macOS and ChromeOS; Edge on a Mac

Built into the browser: fast, no download.

ZXing (WebAssembly)

Windows, Linux, Firefox, Safari, iPhone

About 950 KB, once, from dnsrobot.net; also reads codes the built-in reader misses.

QR code scanner FAQ

How do I read a QR code from an image or screenshot on my phone?

Take a screenshot of the code (or use a photo you already have), open this page and tap Upload image, then pick it from your photos. The scanner reads the code on your phone, without uploading the image, and shows what it says: a link with its real domain, a Wi-Fi password, a payment or a contact. Several screenshots can go in at once.

Can I scan a QR code with my laptop's webcam?

Yes. Choose Scan with camera and allow the camera when your browser asks; hold the code 15–30 cm from the webcam and keep it steady. For a code that's already on your screen, a screenshot is quicker: copy it with Win+Shift+S on Windows or ⌘+Ctrl+Shift+4 on a Mac, then press Ctrl+V or ⌘V on this page.

Are my images uploaded when I scan a QR code here?

No. The image is decoded in your browser, on your own device, by its built-in barcode reader or by the ZXing decoder we serve from our site. No image, text or result is sent to our servers or anyone else's, nothing is saved, and closing the tab clears every scan.

How can I tell if a QR code is safe?

Scan it here before opening anything and read the real domain: it's the last part of the address before the first single slash, such as example.com. Be wary of a sticker over another code, short links that hide the destination, letters from other alphabets, a brand's name in front of another domain, and anything that asks for a password, card number or an app install.

Can scanning a QR code hack my phone?

Scanning alone only reads text, and phone cameras show the link without opening it. The harm comes from the next step: a phishing page that asks for your password or card, an app installed from outside the store, a configuration profile on an iPhone, or a payment. If you entered a password on such a page, change it and turn on two-factor sign-in.

How do I find the Wi-Fi password from a QR code?

Scan the code with this page, from the camera or a photo of it. The card shows the network name and the password in plain text, each with a copy button, plus the security type and whether the network is hidden. The page never joins the network; your phone or computer does that when you choose to.

Do I need an app to scan QR codes?

No. The iPhone Camera has read QR codes since iOS 11 and most Android cameras do too, and the FBI and the UK's NCSC advise using that built-in scanner rather than downloading a scanner app. On a laptop, or for a code in a picture, this page does the same in the browser with nothing to install.

Can I scan a QR code to receive money?

No. With UPI and most payment systems, scanning a code and entering your PIN always sends money. India's RBI and NPCI say you never need to scan a code or enter a PIN to receive money. A buyer who sends you a code "to receive payment" is running a known scam.

Why can't the scanner read my QR code?

Usually it's too small, blurred, glared or cut off: fill most of the picture with the code and keep its white border in view. Badly damaged codes can't be read by any scanner. iPhone photos in HEIC open only in Safari, so take a screenshot of the photo first. The scanner already tries mirrored and light-on-dark codes.

Can one image contain several QR codes?

Yes, and the scanner reads all of them: each code is outlined and numbered on the picture, and its number leads to a card with what it says. This is useful for posters, tickets and screenshots that carry a link, a Wi-Fi code and a contact side by side.

Does it work as a barcode scanner online too?

Yes: EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E product barcodes, Code 128, Code 39, Code 93, Codabar and ITF, plus Data Matrix, Aztec and PDF417. For product numbers it checks the last digit and names the GS1 office that issued the number, which says where the company registered, not where the product was made.

Does the QR code scanner work offline?

Once the page has loaded, reading a code needs no connection in browsers with a built-in barcode reader. Other browsers download the ZXing decoder on the first scan; after that, scans work offline until you close the page. The check-before-you-open links need a connection, as they ask our other tools.

Missing something?Suggest a feature or a new tool

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