Your QR code stopped working
Decode it here and see what it actually contains. A code that still decodes has not failed — something behind it has.
Reviewed by the qrcodegenerator.in team
Decode the code you actually printedIn this browser — nothing is uploaded
Choose a photo of the code
Read in this browser. A code that stopped working is often one nobody should be uploading anywhere.
——A short link decodes to itself here — open it yourself to see whether the destination still answers.- Symbology
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- Symbol
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- Encoding
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One decoder reads this page and the readout is what it recovered from the image. Nothing is uploaded, and no request is made to the address inside the code.
Worth knowing before you reprint anything
It still decodes: the destination is what broke
A dead link, an expired trial on whoever hosts the redirect, a domain that lapsed. The code is fine and reprinting it will not help. What you need is a redirect you control pointing at a live destination.
It does not decode: the symbol is what broke
Contrast, quiet zone, print size and logo coverage cause most of these, roughly in that order. The scanability checker measures all four on the image rather than guessing, and tells you which one is out of range.
It decodes on one phone and not another
That is a margin problem, not a binary failure — the code is close enough to a threshold that a better camera clears it and a worse one does not. Treat it as failing, because the phones you cannot test are the ones your readers have.
The short version, in 4 facts
- Can the symbol itself expire?
- No. A QR symbol has no expiry field and no clock — the ink is the data, so a code that scanned once encodes the same thing today.
- The two causes, and they need different fixes
- Either the symbol has become unreadable — worn, cropped, too pale, printed too small — or it still decodes perfectly and the destination behind it is gone.
- How to tell which one you have
- Decode the code. If a decoder recovers the payload, the symbol is fine and reprinting it will change nothing; if nothing decodes, the symbol is the problem.
- Where the decoding happens
- In your browser. The image is never uploaded, which matters when the code that stopped working is a payment standee or a door code.
Decoded in this browser, not on a server
The image never leaves the device. That matters here beyond privacy: a code that stopped working is often one nobody should be uploading anywhere — a payment standee, a door code, an internal link. The decoder runs on the page, and the readout shows the symbol version, module count and encoding it recovered.
Held up byapps/web/src/islands/scanner.ts
A short link decodes to itself
If the code contains a short URL, this page shows you that URL. It does not follow it — that would be a network call, and the point of decoding in the browser is that there is not one. Open the link yourself to see whether the destination still answers.
Find out which failure you have
Decode the code you actually printed
Point the camera at the printed object, or upload a photo of it. Do not decode the original file — the file is not what stopped working.
If it decodes, read the payload
The symbol is intact. Open the URL it contains and see whether the destination answers. A dead link, a lapsed domain or a switched-off redirect service is the cause, and new artwork will not fix any of them.
If it does not decode, measure the image
Run the same photo through the scanability checker. It measures contrast, quiet zone, print size and logo coverage and names the one that is out of range, rather than guessing at the cause.
Fix the cause, then reprint only if you have to
Reprinting is the expensive fix. It is the right one only when the symbol is what failed, or when the destination is an address you can no longer control.
Questions
Can a QR code expire on its own?
No. The symbol is a fixed pattern encoding fixed data. What people mean by an expired code is that the service resolving its short link stopped resolving it.
Does reprinting it bigger fix a dead link?
No. If the code decodes, the symbol is not the problem and printing changes nothing.
Why does my code work on screen but not in print?
Print loses contrast and adds ink spread, and the quiet zone is often cropped by whoever laid out the page. Check the printed one, not the file.
It worked for months and stopped overnight. What changed?
Nothing about the printed object changed — it cannot. An overnight failure across every copy of a code is almost always the destination: a domain that lapsed on its renewal date, a redirect service that ended a trial, or a page that moved. A failure that affects one copy and not another is physical damage to that copy.
Can a phone update break QR scanning?
It can change the margin. Camera apps differ in how much blur, skew and low contrast they tolerate, so a code that was always borderline can cross the line when a scanner gets stricter. The code was failing before the update, only less often.
Does a logo in the middle stop a code working?
It can. Error correction covers a bounded fraction of the symbol, and a logo eats into that budget along with dirt, glare and wear. A code that scanned in the studio with 30% covered has nothing left for the real world.
What should I hand a printer so this does not happen again?
A vector file — SVG, EPS or PDF — at the size it will be printed, with the quiet zone left intact and no background art under it. The print size calculator gives you the minimum size for your scan distance.