Scan a QR code from an image or screenshot

How to scan a QR code from an image or screenshot

This QR code decoder reads the code inside any picture: a screenshot, a photo of a poster, a saved ticket, an image someone sent you. Use it when you cannot point a second phone at the screen.

1. Get the image in. Drop the file on the box, paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V, or tap the box on a phone to choose a photo.
2. Read the result. You see the full text the code holds and, for a link, the website it goes to.
3. Decide what to do with it. Copy the text, or open the link yourself if you trust where it goes.

Phones can read saved images too. On an iPhone, open the image in Photos and touch and hold the code. On Android, open it in Google Photos and tap Lens. This page works the same in any browser, on a phone or a computer. Camera steps for each device are in how to scan a QR code.

What the decoder shows for each kind of code

Check a link before you open it

A QR code hides its destination until someone reads it, which is why scams use them. A sticker over a real code on a parking meter or a menu can send people to a copy of a payment or login page. Reading the code first lets you check:

• The domain. Does the website match who put up the code? A bank, a council or a restaurant uses its own domain.
• The spelling. Look for swapped letters, extra words and odd endings on a familiar name.
• Short links. A short address on a QR company's domain is a dynamic code: it forwards to a destination you cannot see yet.
• What it asks for. Be wary of any page after a scan that wants a password, a card number or an app install.

More on the risks in can scanning a QR code infect your phone.

Why an image will not scan

• The margin is cropped. A code needs a clear border around it. Crop wider.
• The code is too small. In a photo of a whole poster, the code may be a few pixels wide. Take a closer photo, or crop to the code.
• The image is blurred or compressed. Images resent through chat apps lose detail. Use the original file.
• Glare or a screen pattern. A photo of a screen can carry glare and stripes. A screenshot works better.
• Light on dark. This page tries an inverted reading too, so a light code on a dark background usually still reads.

For saved codes that will not scan at the till, see do screenshots of QR codes work.

Nothing leaves your device

The page reads the image on a canvas in your browser. Where the browser has a built-in barcode reader, as Chrome does on Android and on a Mac, the page uses it. Everywhere else it loads a small open source decoder, @nuintun/qrcode, and runs it on your device. Neither one sends the image or the decoded text anywhere.