What size should a QR code be?
Updated September 2026
One rule covers almost every case: the minimum width of a QR code is the scanning distance divided by ten. A code read from 30 cm needs to be about 3 cm wide; one read from 3 metres needs about 30 cm. Everything below is refinement on that.
The 10:1 rule
A phone camera reads a QR code by resolving individual modules — the little squares. The further away the phone, the more the camera has to magnify, and past a point the modules blur into each other. Dividing the scanning distance by ten keeps each module large enough to survive that, on an average phone, in average light.
There is no upper limit. A code that is larger than it strictly needs to be is easier and faster to scan, not harder. When you have the space, round up.
Print size chart
Minimum code width by where it's used — the quiet-zone margin is on top of this:
- Business card or leaflet (read at 20–25 cm) — 2 to 2.5 cm
- Product packaging (read at ~30 cm) — 3 cm
- Table tent or menu card (read at 30–40 cm) — 3 to 4 cm
- A4 / A5 flyer or a poster at arm's length (read at ~1 m) — 10 cm
- Shop window seen from the pavement (read at 2–3 m) — 20 to 30 cm
- Trade-show banner or roll-up (read at 2–4 m) — 25 to 40 cm
- Vehicle wrap (read at 3–5 m) — 30 to 50 cm
- Billboard (read at 10–20 m) — 1 to 2 m
What pushes the minimum up
Add margin above the chart figure when any of these apply:
- More data — a long URL, a full vCard or a Wi-Fi password makes a denser code that needs more width
- A centre logo — go 10–20% bigger and keep the logo under a quarter of the width
- Low light — restaurants, bars, evening events
- A glossy or laminated finish that reflects light into the camera
- A moving or hard-to-approach surface — a bus, a lorry, a code high on a wall
- Older phones in the audience
The quiet zone is extra
The quiet zone is the plain border the scanner uses to find the code. It should be at least four modules wide — roughly the width of one of the three corner squares — all the way around. Don't count it as part of the code size; budget for it separately so the code itself stays at the figure from the chart.
Check before a print run
Print one proof at the final size, on the actual paper or material, and scan it from the real distance with two different phones. A code that scans on screen can still fail once it's printed small on a matte sticker. If it hesitates, go up a size — there's no penalty. Most scanning problems are size or contrast.
On-screen sizes
For digital use the distance is short, so codes can be small: about 100–120 px in an email signature, 150 px minimum inline on a web page, 300 px on a slide seen across a room, and as large as fits for an Instagram story. Export a PNG for screens and an SVG for anything printed.