QR code decoder

Drop an image containing a QR code onto this page and the decoded text appears next to it, ready to copy. It accepts PNG, JPEG, and WebP files, so screenshots, saved photos, and exported graphics all work. If you want to go the other way and turn text into a code, use the QR code generator.

Why would I decode a QR code on a computer?

Phones scan QR codes with the camera, but a lot of codes never pass through a camera at all. Someone emails you a flyer with a code on it, a code sits inside a PDF or a slide deck, or you took a screenshot of one weeks ago and no longer remember what it pointed to. Opening the link on the machine where you actually need it beats scanning your own monitor with a phone and mailing the link back to yourself. Decoding before you visit also lets you inspect the URL first, which is worth doing with codes from posters or stickers, since a code gives no visual hint of where it leads.

Is my image uploaded anywhere?

No. The image is read into a canvas in your browser and scanned there by the jsQR library, which runs as plain JavaScript on your machine. Nothing is sent over the network, and there is no server that could log the image or the decoded contents. That matters for QR codes more than for most images: codes often carry wifi passwords, login links, or ticket data you would not want passing through an unknown third-party service.

What if no code is found?

Large photos are scanned twice: once scaled down for speed, then at full resolution if the first pass finds nothing, which helps when the code occupies a small corner of a big picture. If both passes fail, the code may be blurry, cut off at the edge, or too low-contrast against its background. Cropping the image closer to the code or taking a sharper screenshot usually fixes it. The format itself is defined in the QR code standard, which also explains how much damage a code can survive.

Typical uses: pulling a link out of a screenshot, checking where a poster’s code leads before opening it, recovering a wifi password from a printed card, and reading codes out of PDFs or presentations on the machine where you need the result.