A QR code that scans perfectly on your screen can fail completely once it is printed. The screen version is backlit, perfectly sharp, and viewed at close range. The printed version may be small, low-contrast, viewed from a distance, or stuck to a curved surface — and any of those changes can push a marginal code over the edge into unscannable. Print readiness is therefore a separate job from generating the code, and it deserves its own checklist.
QR Code Generator gives you the controls that matter for print: the text or URL to encode, size and error-correction settings, and PNG or SVG downloads, all drawn in your browser with no tracking middleman. This post explains how to use those controls for the three most common print jobs — menus, business cards, and posters — and how to test before committing to a full print run.
Size: the scanning-distance rule of thumb
The most useful rule for QR size is a ratio: a code should be at least one-tenth as wide as the distance from which it will be scanned. A code scanned from 30 centimetres away — a table menu, a business card held in the hand — needs to be at least 3 centimetres wide. A poster scanned from 2 metres away needs a code at least 20 centimetres wide. This is a minimum, not a target: bigger scans more reliably, especially in poor light or with older phones, so when space allows, go larger than the minimum.
Business cards are the tightest case. A card has little room, and the temptation is to shrink the code to fit the design. Resist it: a code below about 2 centimetres wide is a gamble, and a card whose code does not scan is a card that fails at its one job. If the design cannot spare the space, the honest answer is to leave the code off the card and put the web address in text, rather than printing a decoration that looks like a code.
Menus sit in the middle. A table menu scanned from arm's length works well at 3–5 centimetres, printed with a quiet zone (see below) and good contrast. Posters have the opposite problem: plenty of space, but a long scanning distance and variable light. Size the code for the farthest person you expect to scan it, not the nearest, and remember that a poster behind glass or in dim light needs extra margin.
Error correction: your insurance against damage
QR codes include error correction: extra data woven into the pattern that lets a scanner reconstruct the code even if part of it is damaged, dirty, or covered. The generator offers levels, from low (about 7% of the code can be restored) to high (about 30%). Higher correction makes the pattern denser — more small squares — which can itself make scanning harder at small sizes, so the choice is a balance.
For clean, protected print — a business card kept in a wallet, a menu under a laminate — a medium level is usually the right balance. For rough environments — a poster outdoors, a label on a parcel, a code printed on textured card — choose high correction, because the code will get scuffed, rained on, or partially covered, and the extra redundancy is what keeps it working. The key insight is that error correction is insurance you choose before printing: once the code is on paper, its level cannot be changed, and a low-correction code in a rough environment will fail exactly when it is most needed.
Contrast, quiet zone, and format
Contrast is non-negotiable: dark modules on a light background scan reliably; light modules on a dark background, or a code printed in a pale brand colour, often do not. Some scanners handle inverted codes, but many do not, and print adds its own contrast loss through ink spread and paper tone. Keep codes black on white (or very dark on very light) unless you have tested a coloured version thoroughly — and even then, keep a black-on-white version as the fallback.
The quiet zone is the blank margin around the code, at least four modules wide on all sides. It is part of the code, not decoration: scanners use it to find the pattern's edges. A design that crowds text, a border, or another image into the quiet zone can make an otherwise perfect code unscannable. When placing a code in a layout, treat the quiet zone as untouchable.
Format follows the print job. PNG is a fixed-size image: fine for menus and cards where the size is known, provided the download resolution is high enough for print (a small PNG stretched large will blur). SVG is a vector: it scales to any size without losing sharpness, which makes it the better choice for posters and large signs. If your printer asks for a specific format, give them the SVG where possible — it removes resolution from the list of things that can go wrong.
Worked example: a fictional restaurant's three codes
A fictional restaurant, Example Bistro, needs three codes: a table menu, a business card, and a window poster.
The menu code links to https://example.com/menu, is printed at 4 centimetres on laminated cards, scanned from about 40 centimetres, and uses medium error correction with a black-on-white PNG. The quiet zone is kept clear of the menu's border pattern.
The business-card code links to https://example.com, printed at 2.5 centimetres — the smallest the designer would accept — with medium correction and strict black on white. The owner tests it with three different phones before approving the card run, because at that size there is no room for a marginal result.
The poster code also links to https://example.com/menu, but it will be scanned from up to 2 metres away in a window, in variable daylight. It is printed at 25 centimetres — larger than the 20-centimetre minimum — with high error correction for glare and reflections, as an SVG so the printer can scale it without blur. The poster is tested in place, through the window glass, before the full run is printed. Three jobs, three sizes, one destination pattern — and the differences are entirely about distance, environment, and format, not about the code's content.
Honest limitations
No settings choice guarantees scans. Print size, contrast, and testing matter, but so do factors outside the generator's control: the phone's camera quality, the lighting, the surface curve, and the visitor's willingness to try again after a failed scan. A code can also fail because its destination is wrong — a mistyped address encoded perfectly still leads nowhere — so proofread the destination before generating, not after printing. Always test the actual printed piece, with more than one phone, at the real scanning distance, before printing in quantity. A single successful scan on your own phone is not a test; it is a hint.
For driving the destination's own measurement, UTM Campaign Builder can tag the URL before it is encoded, and Image Optimizer can prepare surrounding artwork. The background guide for print images is how to optimise images for the web.
FAQs
How big should a printed QR code be?
At least one-tenth as wide as the scanning distance: 3 centimetres for a code scanned from 30 centimetres, 20 centimetres for one scanned from 2 metres. Bigger is safer, especially in poor light or at a distance.
What is QR error correction and which level should I choose?
Error correction is extra data that lets a scanner rebuild a damaged code. Medium suits clean, protected print like cards and menus; high suits rough environments like outdoor posters, where scuffs and glare are expected. Higher correction makes the pattern denser, so balance it against size.
Should I download a QR code as PNG or SVG?
PNG for fixed-size jobs like cards and menus, at a high enough resolution for print. SVG for anything that must scale, like posters and signs, because it stays sharp at any size.
Why does my printed QR code not scan?
Usually size, contrast, or a crowded quiet zone: too small for the distance, too pale, or text and borders touching the pattern. Test the printed piece with several phones at the real distance, and check the destination address for typos.
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