QR codes - what they are, how to create and decipher any barcode, online generators and programs for reading them. Free program to create the correct QR code

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. While writing the last article, I discovered on their main page a tricky code for smartphones that had not yet become commonplace. I recently became acquainted with this topic and therefore today I want to talk about such a thing as QR codes.

For many, this type of barcode has already become commonplace, while others still do not quite understand what we are actually talking about. It is precisely for such comrades (to whom, until recently, I myself was one) that this article is dedicated.

Let's start with the fact that the popularity of this type of information encoding is explained primarily by the development of technology and the almost universal distribution of phones with a good camera and decent performance. To decrypt a QR code, it is enough to have a regular mobile phone and a decoding program installed on it.

What is usually encrypted in this way? Well, first of all, these are logistics (i.e. replacing the usual barcode), bank receipts to speed up the reading of information from them, as well as ordinary things: links on advertising posters or websites and business card data, which will immediately be open in your cell phone's browser, or entered into his address book.

Purpose of QR codes and their use

QR codes are primarily about convenience. But let's see how you can create them yourself in online generators, as well as read and decrypt them on your cell phones. Well, since this blog belongs to the topic of webmastering, we will consider plugins for WordPress that will allow you to display a barcode with its URL on each page of the site, for example, to add it to your smartphone bookmarks.

This barcode variation looks something like this:

It consists of an image in which, as a rule, one can always distinguish three large squares. They serve as guidelines when deciphering the code by programs for reading it - they help determine the level of inclination and clearly refer to the scale. Previously, a simpler one-dimensional (linear) barcode was used everywhere:

Using a barcode, you can encrypt only 20 to 30 characters and this was quite enough, for example, for the needs. QR is one of the varieties of a two-dimensional barcode and allows you to significantly increase the amount of information contained in it. Ideally, it can be used to convert up to two and a half printed pages of text into a relatively small image.

In reality they code from several tens to hundreds of characters, because a larger number may cause difficulties in decoding by mobile phones in non-ideal conditions. In addition, up to 30 percent of the information can be given over to redundancy, which will allow the QR code to be decrypted even if it is partially damaged or in poor conditions.

The Japanese got the whole world hooked on this “infection”. One of their companies developed the principles of encoding and decryption in the mid-nineties of the last century. Well, the widespread use of cell phones in the land of the rising sun has provided the majority of the population with personal barcode scanners.

The fashion for QR codes is slowly sweeping the post-Soviet space. In any case, these intricate pictures are already found quite often on websites or in subway advertising. And placing a barcode on a business card will be a good solution, allowing you to add all your coordinates to your potential partner’s mobile phone with one click (the scanner program will not only decipher the encoded information, but also send the data to contacts or open the link in the browser):

If, for example, you wanted to add an interesting article to your cell phone bookmarks (for reading it on the go), then all modern browsers have add-ons and plugins that allow you to encode a URL address into QR, and then you can read it with your mobile phone camera and the specified page will be opened in a mobile browser. The same applies to selected text fragments.

How to create a QR code - online generators

Just above we looked at generators integrated into browsers, but their online versions look much more functional, which can encode the information you need (URL address, text, personal data from a business card, SMS, phone number, etc.) and create an image of the desired size for you. You can save the resulting barcode image on your computer or get a link to it.

QR Hacker— serves to create exclusive images with barcodes that you can color, round their corners and even add your logo. Because Since this technology initially contains code redundancy (up to 30%), these abuses will not lead to loss of information.

First, in the left panel of the generator, select the data type - this is necessary so that the decryptor program in your mobile phone knows what to do with this data in the future - open a link in the browser, show text, add data to contacts, or do something else. In the next step, in the form located just below, enter what you want to encode (in my case, this is the URL - https://site) and click on the “Generate” button.

A regular black and white QR code will appear in the editor window, which can either be saved as is or colored. All editor tools are located in the right panel. If we consider them from top to bottom, then first comes the engine for rounding corners of elements, then tools for setting the background color, or loading and adjusting the transparency of the background image.

Well, just below are the tools for coloring the elements themselves (just like Pet Shop children’s coloring books) and placing the logo on the surface of the created barcode. Below the image you are mocking is a color scale that indirectly characterizes its readability. In the screenshot just above, readability is on the brink, although my phone with the I-nigma decryption program installed (in tune with, isn’t it) coped with this task with a bang.

QR Coder.ru— a simple barcode generator with an interface in Russian. First, you should select the type of information that you want to embed in the picture (text, business card, SMS or URL) so that the reading program will offer you the necessary options for further actions. For example, in the case of a business card, you will be asked to fill out the following fields:

For links, this will be opening in the browser, and for business card data, saving in contacts (or dialing the number from the business card):

Qrmania.ru- another Russian-language QR code generator with slightly more advanced functionality, which is primarily associated with a wide variety of types of information that can be encoded and color settings of the final image:
It is possible to encode an E-mail address and an entire email message indicating the addressee, subject and text of the letter. In addition, you can encode a phone number (it would be convenient if girls wore badges or bags with such a barcode), Twitter messages and even coordinates on Google maps. Plague!
In general, of course, the Qrmania service can be called the apotheosis of QR generators, because the created image can not only be saved on your computer, but also ordered to be printed on a T-shirt, baseball cap, badge, bag and other small items for quite reasonable money:
Qrcc.ru is a less pretentious, but also functional Russian online generator with the ability to order printing of the created QR code on clothes and things.
There are several more generators from the Kaywa service (one and two), which do not stand out in anything special, but they have their place.
The developers of the popular mobile scanner i-nigma also have their own barcode creator.
Oh, yes, another bourgeois service Goqr.me is worth mentioning, because the design is nice. Well, that's enough, I guess.

Yes, at the beginning of the article I mentioned something that would allow you to generate QRs on the fly for your blog pages. I almost forgot about this, but I’ll still provide a link to the page of the author of these plugins. I myself have not yet realized the need to attach a barcode to all blog pages, but perhaps I will change my mind over time.

Well, and finally, I won’t fail to provide a link to the article, where you can see several dozen highly artistic barcodes. It is noteworthy that all the pictures from this article I checked can be confidently deciphered by a mobile phone.

How to decrypt a barcode - programs and online services

Another question is how one can decipher such intricate pictures on a mobile phone. The range of such programs is quite large and much will depend on the type of phone you have, or more precisely on the OS on which it runs (Android, iOS, etc.).

Personally, I use a Nokia E72 phone and most of all I liked I-nigma - just follow this link from your cell phone, the developers’ site will automatically determine the type of your device and offer to download a program for reading and decoding QR codes. In my opinion, everything you can think of (in terms of phone models) is supported. You can find a screenshot of I-nigma’s work just above the text.

However, before looking further at mobile phone scanning programs, I want to address online services that help you decipher any barcode. You can’t imagine why this might be needed right off the bat, but if such services exist, then there is a need for them too.

I think that more online services that allow you to decode any barcode will not be needed, because these are rather force majeure actions that have nothing to do with the convenience of mobile recognition.

Yes, still worth mentioning desktop program, because he also has the right to life. It's called BarCapture.

It will be enough to simply circle the area with the QR code and after releasing the mouse you will find out the answer to what exactly was encrypted in it. In my opinion, this program works worse than its counterparts on a cell phone, so I don’t particularly recommend using it, unless there is force majeure and you don’t have a cell phone at hand.

Well, now is the time to move on to the most popular programs for reading and decoding barcodes for mobile phones:

I-nigma - already mentioned this program, which exists for different mobile platforms
Barcodes Scanner is a popular application that exists in variations for Android and iOS.
QuickMark - suitable for almost any mobile device
BeeTagg is another universal program for scanning and recognizing QR codes, suitable for a huge number of mobile phone models
UpCode is again a multi-platform scanner and decoder
Neo Reader - well, you get the idea
Decipher a QR code yourself - an article on Habré about how to do without reading programs

Well, I want to say goodbye in an unconventional manner:

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

You can watch more videos by going to

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Clean and compressed QR code - this is QR-Code Studio

If you subscribed to site updates, then you already know that at the end of each short review I add a QR code with a direct link to Google Play, for convenient and quick installation of the program on a smartphone, bypassing authorization and other hassles.

Like any image for a website, this code should have as little “weight” as possible. The QR-Code Studio program, in addition to an honest code, produces a very optimized image - just what I need.

QR-Code Studio - creating a QR code

We launch and confirm non-commercial use...

We get the main (and only) window on the screen with a side toolbar...

...and also with a work area for entering your information for coding and clarifying some parameters of the future code...

I changed practically nothing in the settings (I just indicated the link for encoding, as well as the size of the future QR code in pixels) and saved the result by clicking on the penultimate icon in the toolbar on the left of the program window...

This is how quickly and easily you can create the correct QR code in the QR-Code Studio program.

We optimize the QR code as much as possible

To make our code “weigh” as little as possible, we need to specify the background style in the color settings - “Transparent”...

My QR code, created in the QR-Code Studio program, turned out to be only 472 bytes in size...

...but even it can be compressed even more. To do this, launch a free program for “wild” lossless image compression called RIOT and selecting the “PNG” tab in it and upload your code...

In the “External optimizers” section, specify the “PNGout Xtreme” compression algorithm and click on the inconspicuous triangle in the circle. I am sure that the resulting compression result will surprise you no less than it surprised me...

It turned out that it is indeed possible to compress the QR code even more. By the way, the famous Photoshop compressed the code obtained not with the help of the described program, but with a regular online service, to just 29.2 kb. The difference turned out to be normal - 426 bytes and 29.2 kilobytes...

Even reducing the size to 325 by 325 pixels did not help.

Download QR-Code Studio

I accidentally came across this wonderful program on the TEC-IT service. You can use it to create a QR code online...

A convenient free program for reading and creating QR codes (barcodes). The application allows you to read QR code information from a graphic file, from a monitor screen and from a webcam.

The CodeTwo QR Code Desktop Reader program is a very convenient application that will allow you to receive all encrypted information in a QR-code format barcode without using special devices.

This data storage standard has long gained popularity in various fields of industry, trade, transport and many others. It is a matrix code (two-dimensional barcode) encrypted in a small graphic image. Such a picture may contain text information of quite a significant amount.

To load an image with a QR code into the program, use various types of sources and methods.

CodeTwo QR Code Desktop Reader supports QR code reading:

From Screen

This tool allows you to select a specific working area of the screen with an image containing a QR code using the mouse cursor. For example, if you need to decode information from a barcode located on a web page.

From webcam

To do this, you need to focus the camera connected to the computer on the graphic image of the barcode.

From file

Using Windows Explorer, point to the desired digital image file with encrypted QR information. BMP, JPG, TIFF, GIF and PNG formats are supported.

From clipboard

The program recognizes QR data from a file that is currently on the clipboard.

QR code generator

CodeTwo QR Code Desktop Reader is not only a tool for reading QR codes, but is also capable of generating an encrypted graphic barcode from your data. To do this, you need to use the corresponding item in the main menu of the application “Generator mode on”. In the window for entering the text "QR code text", enter the necessary information and save the resulting image in one of the graphic file formats "Save as".

The maximum volume of the modern QR-code coding standard accommodates:

Digit 7089
Latin characters 4296
Cyrillic
- Windows-1251 encoding has 2953 characters
- There are 1450 characters in UTF-8 encoding

Despite the fact that the QR code was developed back in 1994, it became widely used in the CIS countries only in the 2010s, where cameras of mobile devices, the popularity of which began to grow during this period, became a scanner for reading. For example, in Belgorod in 2013, a project was implemented according to which city monuments were equipped with such a two-dimensional barcode, which encrypts brief information about the cultural heritage of the city. The project made it possible to make information about monuments more accessible to both tourists and residents of the region.

Unlike a regular barcode, a QR code is two-dimensional, that is, it is built not from stripes, but from squares, which allows you to encrypt much more information. Often text is encoded, the maximum size of which (together with numbers) can be up to 4296 characters, less often - small-sized pictures. To read codes from posters and packaging, you only need a smartphone with a camera and a special application. However, it is much more interesting to create a QR code yourself. Read on to find out how to do this.

QR code using the website

The simplest way to create a two-dimensional barcode requires the user only to have an Internet connection. The following sites provide a similar service:

· www.qurify.com

· qrcode.kaywa.com

Let's consider the first two of them, since these sites are as convenient and understandable as possible.

QR code generator Qrcoder.ru

This QR code generator is the simplest and will require a minimum of actions from you. After going to the site( www.qrcoder.ru) a text input field will open in front of you, above which you can select the type of information to be entered: “any text”, “website link”, “business card” or “SMS message”. Under the form, you can adjust the size of the received code - from 1 to 6. When you have finished entering the required text, click “create code” in the lower right corner of the form, after which a picture with the code will appear on the right side of the screen.

To save an image, right-click on it and select “save image as” in the drop-down window and specify the path to save. If the received QR code needs to be placed on the website, then you can use a permanent link or HTML code located under the image.

QR code generator Qrcc.ru

Another resource for building QR codes online, which has wider functionality. By going to the site( qrcc.ru), You will also see a form for entering information. However, unlike the previous site, here you can select not only “free text”, “site address (URL)”, “business card (VCARD)” or “SMS message”. Among other types of entered information, which are located in a list on the left side of the screen, there are even “WI-FI data” or “Google Maps coordinates”.

Having selected the type and entered the required information, go to the settings panel, which is located under the input form. The first point here is to select an icon or text that will be located inside the code itself, then “text above the code” and “text below the code”. By the way, the font size of a text directly depends on its length, that is, the fewer letters in a word, the larger it will be. Below are the color settings for the code, image background and text. To select a color, click on the square next to the corresponding field. On the right side of the window that appears there is a vertical scale of colors, where to select the one you need, click on it with the left key. Next, on the left side of the window, select the desired shade of color in the same way, and then click “OK.” The last point is choosing the size of the future barcode.

When all of the above has been completed, under the input form and settings, click “create code”, after which the image we need will appear below, which can be saved in the same way as on the previous site, or copied its link/HTML code.

QR code using the program

Owners of the Windows operating system can download the QR code generator “XRen QRCode” from this link. On the right side of the page, click on the blue button with the inscription “Download”, then in the window that opens, click on the inscription “Softpedia Secure Download (US)”, the download will begin in a couple of seconds.

Run the installation file and click “Next”. If you want to install the program in a specific folder, then click “Browse...”, select this folder, click “OK”. Then “Next” twice again, when XRen QRCode is installed, close the program.

An icon with the inscription “QRCode” should appear on your computer desktop, click on it. In the window that opens, you will see a form in which you need to enter text, and then click on the “Encode” button below. An image of the finished QR code will appear on the right; to save it, find the blue floppy disk (“Save”) in the top panel of the window and click on it.

Select the folder to save the picture, and also at the bottom, in the drop-down list, the picture format is .jpg, .png or .gif, click “save” - the QR code is ready.

If you are using an operating system based on the Linux kernel, then in order to create a QR code, you will need a console application called Qrencode. You can find out how to download, install and use it by going to this link.

Features of QR Code and Scanning Apps

Despite the ability of a two-dimensional barcode to store a large number of different characters, it is still recommended to use the Latin alphabet as letters and not exceed 150 characters. The reason for this is the low functionality of most applications for reading information from code and the low accuracy of mobile phone cameras, which simply cannot recognize the code.

For mobile devices and tablets based on there are applications such as “QR Reader for iPhone” and “QR Code Reader”, respectively, and you can purchase them for free in official online stores ( appstore.com or play.google.com). To scan a barcode, just launch the application and simply point the camera at the QR code image, after which a window with encrypted information will open. If you have a platform with a different operating system, then you should download an application that is suitable specifically for your device. You can select a program for your mobile phone on this website( qrcoder.ru).

The created QR code can be placed on the packaging of your product, the billboard of your enterprise, the business card of your company, as well as on any other paper sheet or device that displays the image format.

Main photo: / ghazayel.com

QRGen is a portable software for Windows that allows you to generate QR codes for text, emails, messages or for a website and save the URL as an image file. You can create Quick Response (QR) codes instantly and send the QR code to someone as an image file. You can save the generated QR code in JPEG, PNG, GIF, JPG, BMP formats. You don't need to go online to create a website QR code. You can generate QR codes only if you have a computer.

QRGen is very easy to use and does not require installation. Simply provide the URL(s) or desired text, size, and error correction level for the QR code, and you can create a QR code that will display the information once decoded.

The QRGen interface is very simple: on the left is an image of a QR code, on the right are the necessary parameters. Text size is limited to 2000 characters. For example, you can enter your website address, including information about your site. After providing the website address, you can select the size of the QR code as well as the error correction level (medium, high, etc.). Next click Generate and QRGen will generate a QR code using the Google Chart API.

How to get QRGen

QRGen is free software. You can access the download. The software is very light, less than 1 MB. Loads onto your computer very quickly. After downloading, you need to open the zip archive and run the file under the name QRGen.exe. That's all there is to it, and then you can generate QR codes for your desired web addresses, text, etc.

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