QR Code Size Calculator
Paste your real URL, set the scan distance, and see the smallest the printed code can be — and whether your link is too long to print small.
Enter the URL or text your QR code will hold.
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Printed QR code FAQ
Need the code itself? Our free QR code generator builds a print-ready file, and we design postcards and print pieces with codes sized to actually scan.
Use the 10:1 rule — the printed width should be at least one tenth of the scan distance. At two feet, that is a 2.4-inch code minimum. This tool adds 25 percent on top as a recommended size, because real-world scans happen at an angle, in poor light, and with a smudged phone camera.
More data means more modules — the little squares that make up the grid. If the printed width stays the same, each module gets smaller. Below roughly 0.015 inch per module, ink spread and camera focus start working against you. Shortening a long tracking URL is usually the cheapest fix available.
Level M is a reasonable default for most printed pieces. Higher levels, Q and H, let a damaged or partly covered code still scan, but they consume capacity and push the symbol to a denser version. Reach for H only if you are dropping a logo in the center or printing on something that gets scuffed.
The quiet zone is the blank margin around the code — the spec calls for four modules on every side. Scanners use it to find where the symbol starts and stops. Crowding it with text, a border, or the edge of a photo is one of the most common reasons a printed code fails.
How to calculate printed QR code size
The starting point is a 10:1 ratio: one inch of printed width for every ten inches of scan distance. Convert your distance to inches, divide by ten, and you have the minimum. A code read from two feet away needs 24 ÷ 10 = 2.4 inches square. Do not borrow the 10:1 rule from signs — that one is an inch of letter height per ten feet, twelve times looser. A 2.4-inch letter reads from 24 feet; a 2.4-inch QR code reads from two. The calculator adds 25 percent as a recommended width — 3 inches here — because real scans happen off-axis, in dim light, on a phone held by someone not being careful. The minimum is the cliff edge; the recommendation is where you want to stand.
Width alone is not enough, which is why this tool encodes your actual text instead of guessing. Every QR symbol is a grid of modules — the small black and white squares — and the grid grows as you add data, starting at 21×21 and stepping up in fours from there. This tool runs a real encoder, so the module count it reports is exact, not an estimate. Module size is then minimum width ÷ (modules + 8). The 8 is the quiet zone: four blank modules on every side, required by the spec and part of the footprint you have to print. Building the artwork yourself? Keep the code as vector or high-resolution art — see our Canva print guide.
Worked example. You are putting a code on a business card, scanned from about a foot away. Minimum width = 12 ÷ 10 = 1.2 inches; recommended = 1.2 × 1.25 = 1.5 inches. Paste a short link and the encoder might return a 25-module symbol: 1.2 ÷ (25 + 8) = 0.036 inch per module — comfortable. Paste a 155-character tracking URL with campaign parameters at error correction Q and it may come back at 61 modules: 1.2 ÷ (61 + 8) = 0.017 inch — workable, but tight. At or above 0.02 inch is comfortable, 0.015 inch is the floor, and below that ink spread and camera focus start eating the code.
Two levers move that number. The first is the URL itself — a long tracking string is why so many printed codes fail. Shorten it, or point it at a redirect, and the grid collapses to something a small card can carry. The second is error correction: L, M, Q, and H reserve increasing shares of the symbol for recovery data, so H can rebuild a scuffed code but costs capacity and forces a denser version. M is a fine default. Then match the distance to the piece — a rack card or door hanger gets read at arm’s length, a sign at a craft fair booth from five feet, a banner from farther still.
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