Find out how big to print a QR code so it scans from where people will stand.
Or turn it around: see how far away a printed code can still be read.
It encodes your real content, so a long link or a contact card gets the extra room it needs. Ready to make the code? Open the QR Code Generator - it has a PDF export in exact centimetres.
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| Distance | Smallest width | Square size |
|---|
Already have the code as a small picture? Make it big and sharp with the QR Code Upscaler, or get a vector for print with QR Code to SVG.
For a short link (25 x 25 squares, error correction M) in good light.
| Where | Scan distance | Smallest width |
|---|---|---|
| Business card, label | 20-30 cm | 2-3 cm |
| Table card, flyer, menu | 30-50 cm | 3-5 cm |
| Shop window, A4 sign | 1 m | 10 cm |
| Poster | 2 m | 20 cm |
| Banner, trade fair stand | 5 m | 50 cm |
| Billboard | 15 m | 1.5 m |
Longer content, a logo or hard conditions push these up - the calculator above does the sum for your own code.
A QR code is a grid of squares, and what matters to a camera is the size of one square.
A short link fits in 21 or 25 squares across; a contact card can need 57 or more. At the same print size, each square of the dense code is less than half as wide - so it has to be printed bigger, or read from closer. Picking error correction H for a logo adds squares too.
Drop tracking tags and use a short domain - the generator's link slimmer does it for you.
Pale colours behave like a smaller code. Check them in the Color Contrast Checker.
The white quiet zone, 4 squares wide, is part of the code - leave room for it.
Squares under about 0.33 mm blur on most printers. Print a proof and test it.
The common rule is width = scanning distance ÷ 10: about 3 cm for 30 cm away, 10 cm for 1 m, 50 cm for 5 m. That works for short links. Codes with more content have more, smaller squares, so they need to be bigger - this calculator uses your real content to work that out.
About 2 x 2 cm for a short link on a business card, read from close up. Below that, the squares (modules) get smaller than about 0.33 mm and normal printers and phone cameras start to lose them. Dense codes - a vCard or a long link - need more.
The size here is the code itself, square to square. Add the white border (the quiet zone, 4 modules on each side) around it - switch on Include the white border to see the full printed size.
More content means more modules across. A short link fits in a 25 x 25 grid; a long tracking link may need 41 x 41 or more, so each square gets smaller at the same size. Shorten the link - the QR Code Generator can drop tracking tags for you - and the code can be smaller.
A logo needs error correction H, which adds repair data and makes the grid denser. Pick H here to see the effect - often one size step up. Check the final design with the QR Code Checker.
Roughly 10 times its width in good light - a 5 cm code from about 50 cm, a 20 cm poster from about 2 m. Use the How far can it be read? tab with your own size and content for a closer estimate.
It is a careful estimate, not a guarantee. Phone cameras, light, glare, angle and print quality all change the result. Always scan a printed proof from the real distance with two different phones before a big print run.
