QR code reader
Read a QR code from a screenshot or a photo when you cannot point a camera at it. Decoded on this device - the image is never uploaded.
Drop a QR code image here
A screenshot, a photo of a printed code, a PNG or a JPG. It is decoded on this device and never uploaded.
Check the destination before you open it
A QR code is opaque by design. A person looking at one cannot tell a menu from a payment page, which is why fraudulent stickers get placed over genuine codes on parking meters, charity posters and restaurant tables. Reading the code first, in a tool rather than in a phone camera that offers to open it immediately, is a reasonable habit.
Two things worth noticing in a decoded address: whether the domain actually belongs to the organisation the sticker claims to be, and whether it is a shortener hiding a second destination. Neither is proof of anything on its own, but both are worth a second look.
Reading QR codes: common questions
Drop the image onto this page. It works with a screenshot, a photo of a printed code, or a code embedded in a PDF page you have exported as an image. The code is decoded on your device and the text it contains is shown to you.
No. The file is drawn onto a canvas in your own browser and decoded there. Nothing is transmitted, and the page keeps working with your network connection turned off.
Three causes account for almost all of them: the photo was taken at a steep angle, the white margin around the code was cropped off, or the shot is blurred. Crop closer to the code, square it up, and try again. A code that is badly damaged or covered by a logo may genuinely be unreadable.
Treat it exactly like a link in an email from someone you do not know. A QR code shows a human nothing about where it leads, which is precisely why fraudulent codes get stuck over real ones on parking meters and menus. Read the decoded address before you open it, and be suspicious if it does not match the organisation the sticker claims to be from.
Not from a code you found - a plain static code has the destination baked into it and nothing counts the scans. If you are the one printing codes and want that number, make a free batch: every code in it counts its own scans and can be re-pointed later.
Related: WiFi QR code generator, vCard QR code generator, dynamic QR code generator.