QR Code Decoder

QR Code Decoder

Read a QR code from any image

Upload a file, drag one in, or paste an image straight from your clipboard, and this tool decodes the QR code and shows you exactly what it contains. It works with PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP and SVG, with screenshots, and with photos of a code on a screen or a printed page.

Decoding happens entirely in your browser. The image is drawn to a canvas and read locally — nothing is uploaded to a server. That matters for QR codes containing Wi-Fi passwords, contact details, or anything else you would not want to send to a third party.

What it understands

A QR code is just a container for text, but that text usually follows a convention. This decoder recognises the common ones and lays them out in a readable form:

• URLs — shown with the destination host highlighted.
• Wi-Fi (WIFI: payloads) — network name, security type and password broken out.
• Contacts — both vCard and MeCard formats, with name, phone, email and organisation parsed.
• Email, phone and SMS — mailto:, tel: and SMSTO: payloads.
• Geographic locations — geo: coordinates.
• Plain text — anything else, shown as-is.

For every code you also get the exact raw content, which you can copy with one click.

Links are shown, never opened

When a QR code contains a URL, this tool displays it as text and does not navigate to it automatically. That is a deliberate safety choice. Quishing — phishing via QR code — works precisely because the destination is invisible until scanned; a printed code over a car park meter or on a fake parcel notice can point anywhere. Being able to read the URL first, without your phone camera immediately loading it, lets you judge a code before you trust it. If a link looks suspicious, run it through the URL Defanger before going anywhere near it.

Tips for a clean decode

The code needs to be reasonably sharp and fully in frame. Very large photos are automatically scaled down to a working resolution before decoding, so file size is not a problem, but a blurry, angled or partially cropped code may not read. If a code refuses to decode, try a straighter, better-lit image. The decoder automatically retries with inverted colours, so light-on-dark codes work too.

Need to create one instead?

Use the QR Code Generator to build QR codes for URLs, text, Wi-Fi credentials and contact cards, with downloadable PNG and SVG output.