QR Codes Explained: How They Work and How to Make One

A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode: a square grid of black and white modules that any smartphone camera can decode in a fraction of a second. You've scanned them on restaurant menus, payment terminals, product packaging, and posters — and generating your own is a genuinely useful skill for marketers, event organizers, and developers.

How a QR code stores data

Unlike a linear barcode, a QR code stores data in two dimensions. Three distinctive corner squares (the finder patterns) tell the scanner where the code is and how it's oriented. The rest of the grid encodes the payload as a sequence of modules, along with error-correction data that lets the scanner reconstruct the message even if part of the code is damaged or covered.

• URLs — the most common use: scan, open a website.
• Wi-Fi credentials — scan to join a network without typing the password.
• vCard contacts — scan to save someone's details instantly.
• Payments and UPI/QR — point-of-sale and person-to-person transfers.
• App links, locations, calendar events, and plain text.

ForgePlug's QR Code Generator covers 11 content types — URLs, plain text, email, SMS, WiFi login, vCard, GPS, WhatsApp, calendar events, and more — with size, color, and error-correction controls, all rendered locally in your browser. When you need to read a code, the QR Scanner detects not just URLs but email addresses, phone numbers, WiFi credentials, and calendar events, and offers the right action for each.

Privacy note

QR codes often encode private details — WiFi passwords, personal contacts, payment links. Generate and scan them locally: when the tool runs in your browser, nothing you encode is uploaded, stored, or tracked.