What you have to know about the quality of QR codes
At Free QR Code you can select the quality of the QR code yourself. There are the options: Small – Medium – High – Best. What does this mean?
In short
- QR code quality settings affect scannability in less optimal conditions.
- High-quality QR codes can still be scanned even when a part is missing.
- Choosing higher quality increases the chances of successful scanning in various situations.
What is the impact of the quality setting?
The quality of a QR code influences whether it is possible to scan it, in less optimal circumstances.
A QR code with a high quality is often able to be scanned even when part of it is invisible for the camera. A QR code with a lower quality is not able to be scanned in this case. This is caused by the fact that higher quality QR codes are more detailed. (See images on the right)
Example of a low quality QR code. There are a small amount of ‘blocks’.
A high quality QR code. A lot of ‘blocks’ can be seen.
Can I still scan the QR code, when part of it is invisible?
For a high quality QR code, it’s not as much of a deal if a part is invisible. Even when a relatively large part is gone, the QR code can often still be scanned. However, QR codes which have a higher quality, are larger in file size.
In the image above, an equal part of each QR code isn’t visible. The low quality QR code doesn’t work anymore. Meanwhile, the high quality QR code still functions perfectly.
Try it out!
Test above whether it is possible to scan a QR code, when a pen has scratched through it.
Test above if it is possible to scan the QR codes when a part has vanished.
Why is a QR code with a higher quality still able to be scanned in these cases?
If the quality of a QR code is high, a higher percentage of the QR code can be recovered if something goes wrong.
A QR code is corrected when a part is not able to be scanned normally. A low quality QR code can correct less than a high quality QR code. If a part in the QR code isn’t visible when scanning, it can happen that a high quality QR code still works, while a low quality does not.
The image below shows how quality H can recover 30% of the QR code, while L can only correct 7%. In this blog we compared quality H and L with each other. You can see that quality H is able to be scanned in this blog, while quality L is not.
Conclusion
QR codes with a higher quality work more often, when a part of it isn’t visible. Therefore, we advise you to select the highest quality so your QR code can be scanned as fluently as possible.
FAQ
There can be various reasons why your QR-code doesn’t work. The most common ones are:
- The entered data contains a typo;
- The QR code is of low quality;
- You’re using an app to scan: this often doesn’t work and a camera works better;
- Haven’t found the issue, or want to knoe more? Read about the top 10 reasons why QR-codes won’t work and their corresponding solutions.
The minimum is 1×1 cm. However in practice a QR-code should be larger, as the QR-code should grab attention. If the QR-code is scanned from a great distance, and if the QR-code contains much data (many blocks) the minimum size is higher as well. Click here to read about the ideal QR=code size.
Yes this is possible! You can download the QR code in PNG, SVG or PDF format. Then you can print the QR code. For tips when you’d like to print a QR code, click here.