Why use a text QR instead of a URL?

Three reasons: it works fully offline (the URL form does not need to be alive), it stays private (no link to track), and the recipient does not have to trust a domain.

Up to ~4,000 alphanumeric characters in theory. In practice keep it under 500 for paper, under 1,000 for screens — beyond that the modules get hard for cameras to resolve.

Can I include line breaks?

Yes. The encoder preserves them. Whether the scanner displays them is up to the scanner; most do.

PLATE 02

SCALE 1 : 1

EDITION v0.26.10

FILE KMK·QR·02

FIGURE A · TEXT ENCODE

Free text QR code generator

Encode any string — a note, a poem, an offline message — into a QR code. Plain text, no scheme, no destination. Decoded by the scanner directly.

Create QR code

process: client-side · zero upload
cost: free · no signup · no expiry
format: PNG · SVG · PDF
license: MIT · open source

§01

Notes on the artifact

A text QR code does not point anywhere. The scanner shows the decoded string and stops there. That is useful when the goal is to deliver information directly — a serial number, a poem, a one-time access code, a printed message — rather than open a website.

Most modern phone cameras will offer to copy the decoded text. Some will offer to "search" it, which usually means a generic web search. There is no auto-redirect because there is nowhere to redirect to.

QR codes can hold a few thousand characters at the highest density, but the practical limit is closer to 500 if you want it to scan reliably from a printed surface. Long blocks of text shrink the modules to the point where camera autofocus struggles.

§02

Footnotes & queries

Why use a text QR instead of a URL?: Three reasons: it works fully offline (the URL form does not need to be alive), it stays private (no link to track), and the recipient does not have to trust a domain.
How much can I fit?: Up to ~4,000 alphanumeric characters in theory. In practice keep it under 500 for paper, under 1,000 for screens — beyond that the modules get hard for cameras to resolve.
Can I include line breaks?: Yes. The encoder preserves them. Whether the scanner displays them is up to the scanner; most do.

§03

Anatomy of the code

QR ANATOMY FUNCTIONAL REGIONS DRAFTING SCHEMATIC

Every QR code is a part-functional, part-data grid. Three finder patterns at the corners let a scanner lock orientation; an alignment pattern at the bottom-right corrects perspective skew when the code is photographed at an angle. The timing patterns — alternating modules running between the finders — tell the scanner the cell pitch. Format info encodes the error-correction level and mask pattern across 15 bits arranged in an L-shape. The rest of the grid is the payload — data plus Reed–Solomon error-correction codewords. The quiet zone is mandatory whitespace; without four clear modules of margin, scanners reject the code. The detail below the main figure shows the finder pattern's 1·1·3·1·1 ring construction — proportions deliberately chosen so a scanner can recognise the pattern at any rotation, with three patterns at three corners triangulating the code's orientation.

§04