QR Code Scanner

Home QR Code Scanner

QR Code Scanner

Camera, image upload or paste. Nothing is uploaded to a server.

Start the camera and hold a QR code in the frame

Your browser will ask for camera permission. The video never leaves your device.

Drop an image here or click to choose one

PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF. You can also paste with Ctrl+V.

Scan a QR Code From Your Camera or an Image

Point your camera at a code, drop in a screenshot, or paste an image straight from the clipboard. The result appears as readable text with the destination broken out, so you can see where a link actually goes before you decide to follow it.

Decoding happens in your browser. The camera feed and any image you choose stay on your device, are never uploaded, and are not stored anywhere on our side.

Three Ways to Scan

1

Camera

Works on a phone, tablet or laptop with a webcam. On a phone it selects the rear camera, and if the device exposes a torch you get a button for it. Browsers only allow camera access over https.

2

Image File

Drop a PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF onto the panel, or click to browse. This is the route for a code you have been emailed or found in a document, where there is nothing physical to point a camera at.

3

Clipboard Paste

Take a screenshot, switch to the Image tab and press Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. Faster than saving a file first, and the usual way to check a code someone sent you in a chat.

What the Scanner Tells You

Most scanners hand back a string and leave you to work out what it means. A QR code stores plain text, and phones treat certain patterns of that text as instructions, which is why a WiFi code joins a network instead of displaying gibberish. This scanner recognises those patterns and lays the fields out.

Links

Shows the domain, protocol, path and query separately, so the real destination is visible rather than buried in a long string.

WiFi

Network name, security type and password, each on its own line. Worth knowing: the password sits in the code as readable text.

Contact Cards

Reads vCard and meCard payloads and splits out name, organisation, phone, email and address.

Email, Phone and SMS

Separates the address or number from the pre-filled subject or message body, so you can see what would be sent on your behalf.

Locations and Events

Geo coordinates with a map link, and calendar events broken into title, start, end and location.

Recent Scans

The last ten results stay listed so you can go back to one. They are held in your own browser and clearing removes them for good.

Why Scanning Before Tapping Matters

A printed QR code is the only link format where the destination is genuinely invisible. You cannot hover over it, and the black and white pattern gives away nothing. That gap is the whole basis of QR phishing, usually called quishing: a sticker goes over the legitimate code on a parking meter, a restaurant table or a delivery locker, and the replacement points somewhere else entirely.

This scanner shows you the destination as text and flags the things a person cannot see. It raises a warning when a link:

  • Uses http rather than https, meaning anything you type on that page travels unencrypted
  • Contains a punycode domain, which can make one domain render almost identically to another
  • Goes through a URL shortener, where the real destination stays hidden until you arrive
  • Points at a raw IP address instead of a domain name, which legitimate sites rarely do
  • Carries embedded credentials in the address, a long-standing trick for disguising the real host
  • Runs unusually long, which can push the real domain out of view in a narrow address bar

None of these prove a code is malicious. A shortened link is often just a shortened link. They are the points worth a second look before you type a password or card number into whatever opens.

When a Code Will Not Scan

Poor lighting is the most common cause. A glossy printed code under a ceiling light reflects straight back into the lens. Tilt it slightly rather than moving closer.

With an image file, crop tight to the code but leave the white margin. That margin is the quiet zone and it is part of the code, so cropping into it breaks the scan.

Very small images decode badly. A code saved as a 100 pixel thumbnail often has too little detail left, so find the original rather than enlarging the thumbnail.

Low contrast defeats the decoder. A pale code on a mid-tone background is hard for any scanner, and a light code on a dark background fails on some.

Privacy

The camera stream is rendered to a canvas in your browser and read frame by frame. No frame is uploaded, no image is stored, and the decoded value never reaches our server. The camera is released as soon as you stop scanning or switch away from the tab.

The recent scans list lives in your browser’s local storage. It is on your device only, it is not visible to us, and the Clear button deletes it.

Browsers only permit camera access over a secure connection and will always ask your permission first. If you would rather not grant it, the Image tab does the same job with a screenshot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the scanner free to use?
Yes. No account, no limit on how many codes you scan, and no watermark or paywall. Advertising pays for the site.
Are my scans uploaded anywhere?
No. Decoding runs entirely in your browser using a JavaScript library loaded from this site. The camera feed, any image you select and the decoded result all stay on your device.
Why does the camera not start?
The usual causes are a refused permission prompt, another application already holding the camera, or an insecure connection. Browsers only allow camera access over https. If none of that applies, use the Image tab, which needs no permission at all.
Can it scan a barcode rather than a QR code?
No. This reads QR codes only. Linear barcodes such as EAN and UPC use a different encoding and need a different decoder.
Does it work offline?
The decoder is downloaded the first time you start a scan, so the page needs a connection at that point. Once loaded, decoding itself needs no network. Opening a scanned link obviously still requires one.
Is a scanned QR code safe to open?
Reading a code is always safe, because decoding only turns the pattern into text. The risk is in what you do next. Check the domain shown in the result, take any warning seriously, and be especially careful with codes on stickers in public places, which are trivial to replace.
Why can it not read my code?
Most often the image is too small, too blurred, cropped into the quiet zone, or photographed at a sharp angle. Damaged codes can still work, since QR codes carry redundant data that recovers between 7 and 30 percent of the pattern depending on the error correction level used when it was made.

Making Codes as Well as Reading Them

To create a code rather than read one, the QR code generator handles URLs, WiFi, vCards, events and social links, with colour and shape options and PNG or SVG export.

If you want to understand what you are looking at, the guide to how QR codes work covers the encoding, and are QR codes safe goes further into the phishing risk touched on above.