SDK Documentation Help

QR Code

QR Code is the most well-known 2D matrix symbology, originally developed in 1994 by Denso Wave, it is used in a wide variety of industries and applications. It is now standardized as ISO/IEC 18004.

A sample QR Code is shown below:

Sample QR Code

A reduced variant called Micro QR Code is defined in the same ISO specification and also supported by SDK versions 1.12.0 and later.

A sample Micro QR Code is shown below:

Sample Micro QR Code

Symbology Characteristics

Configuration name

qr (regular QR Code), microqr (Micro QR Code)

ISO specification

ISO/IEC 18004

Encodable character set

All 8-bit values can be encoded.

Capacity

QR Code symbols can encode up to 7'089 numeric characters, 4'296 alphanumeric characters, 2'953 bytes of binary data or 1'817 kanji characters for a version 40 symbol at the lowest error correction level.

Micro QR Codes are limited to 35 numeric, 21 alphanumeric, 15 bytes of binary data or 9 kanji characters for an M4 version symbol at the lowest error correction level.

Integrity protection

Reed-Solomon error correction, selectable (four levels, three for Micro QR Code)

Quiet zone

A quiet zone of four modules (4X) is required around the symbol.

Micro QR Codes require a 2X quiet zone.

QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

Configuration Options

QR Code

Option

Description

Sample Configuration

Default

roundedFPs

Toggle recognition of QR codes with rounded finder patterns

const config = { engine: { symbologies: [ { name: "qr", roundedFPs: true } ] } }

false

curved

Toggle recognition of QR codes on curved surfaces

const config = { engine: { symbologies: [ { name: "qr", curved: true } ] } }

false

Micro QR Code

Micro QR Code does not have any symbology-specific configuration options.

Limitations

The following elements of the ISO specification are not implemented:

  • ECI (Extended Channel Interpretation)

  • Model 1 QR Codes

ISO/IEC 18004:2006 stopped mentioning this first iteration of QR Code in 2006, and redefined QR Code to mean Model 2 QR Code, so we do not consider it relevant in today's landscape.

Model 1 QR Code
03 December 2025