QR Code & Barcode Scanner Online

QR Code and Barcode Scanner Online: Read a Code with the Camera or from an Image

Use this online scanner as a QR code reader and a barcode reader in one page. Press the camera button and show a code to your camera, or choose, drop or paste a picture (a photo, a screenshot, an image from a messenger). The text inside the code appears at once, and you can copy it. A picture can be pasted with Ctrl + V, and several pictures can be read in one go. Nothing is installed, and the scan is done in your browser: the camera image and the pictures are not sent anywhere.

What it reads

• QR codes: links, Wi-Fi access, contacts, payment data, text, tickets.
• Product barcodes: EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E (the codes on goods in shops, and books).
• Logistics and industry codes: Code 128, Code 39, Code 93, ITF, Codabar, GS1 DataBar.
• 2D codes: Data Matrix, PDF417, Aztec, MaxiCode.

The tool shows the data in the code. For a product barcode that is the number (for example 13 digits of an EAN-13), not the name of the product: the name is kept in a database of the shop or the producer. This page only reads codes, it does not create them.

How to scan with a camera

1. Press Scan with camera and allow the access in the question of the browser.
2. Hold the code inside the frame, so that the whole code is visible, with an empty white margin around it.
3. When the code is read, the camera stops and the result is shown. On a phone the button with arrows switches between the back and the front camera.

The camera works only on a secure page (https) and only after you allow it. If you pressed "Block" by mistake, open the settings of the site in the address bar of the browser and allow the camera, then press the button again. If the device has no camera or it is busy with another program, use a picture instead.

Why a code is not read

• Glare and shadow. A shiny label or a screen gives a reflection. Change the angle or the light.
• Too small or blurred. Move closer, wait until the camera focuses, or take a sharp photo and upload it. A bigger picture helps for a tiny code.
• A cut or damaged code. A barcode needs its quiet zone (an empty margin on both sides), and a QR code needs the three big squares in the corners.
• Several codes in a picture. The tool reads one code in a picture. Crop the picture around the code you need.

QR code or barcode

A barcode (1D) is a row of lines that keeps a number or a short text. A QR code (2D; QR means "quick response") was made in 1994 by Denso Wave. It keeps much more: at the largest size and the lowest correction level up to 7089 digits or 4296 letters and digits. A QR code has four levels of error correction, from 7% (L) to 30% (H) of the data that can be restored when a part of the code is damaged.

Be careful with QR codes

• A QR code can hide any link, and links from fake QR codes are used for phishing (it is called quishing). The tool shows what is inside before you open it, so you can see the real address.
• Do not open a link from an unknown code if it asks for a password, a card number or an installation of an app. To check an address use the safe URL checker, and to see its parts the URL parser.
• Links in the results open in a new tab and without passing your page to the site.