How to make a photo QR code
- Enter the content first: a link, Wi-Fi details, a contact card or any other type. The photo works with all of them.
- Open “Shape & photo” in the design section and choose a photo. A close-up with a plain background gives the clearest picture.
- Pick Black & white for a classic newspaper-photo look, or Full colour to keep the photo’s colours.
- Watch the scan score under the preview. It test-scans the design at three distances and shows the smallest safe print size.
- Download PNG for screens or SVG for print, then scan a printed copy with two different phones before printing many.
Photo settings explained
- Photo
- JPG, PNG or WebP. It is cropped to a centred square and reduced in size inside your browser; the original never leaves your device.
- Black & white or Full colour
- Black & white draws the picture in shades of grey, like a newspaper photo. Full colour keeps the picture’s colours. Both push every cell to clearly dark or clearly light so the code keeps its contrast.
- Corners and error correction
- Choosing a photo switches the three corner squares to plain squares and the error correction to level H, the settings phones read most reliably for picture codes.
Where a photo QR code works well
Wedding and party invitations
A photo of the couple or the host that opens the RSVP form, venue map or photo album.
Product packaging and labels
Show the product itself in the code that links to the manual, recipe or reorder page.
Creators and personal brands
Your face on a business card, poster or merch that opens your profile or portfolio.
Restaurants and cafés
A photo of a signature dish on the table card that opens the menu.
How a photo QR code stays scannable
Every square (module) of the code is split into a 3 × 3 grid. Phone scanners look at the centre of each module, so the centre cell always keeps the real black or white value. The cells around it show the photo as a dithered halftone, but at least seven of the nine always match the real value, so the module still reads correctly from a distance, when the camera blurs it into one shade.
The three large corner squares, the timing lines and the alignment marks are drawn solid, exactly as in a normal code. With error correction level H the code still reads even where the picture blurs the pattern.
Things to know before printing
- A photo code needs a somewhat bigger print than a plain one, usually 3 cm or more. The scan score shows the minimum for your design.
- Busy or very dark photos are harder to recognise in the pattern. Choose a bright, simple picture with one clear subject.
- Short content gives the photo more room. A long link makes a denser grid and a less visible picture.
- Scan one printed copy with two different phones before ordering hundreds.
Questions people ask
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The photo is read, reduced and drawn by your own browser. Nothing is sent to a server.
Is this an AI art QR code?
No. It uses a halftone technique instead of an image generator, so it is instant, free and the result is predictable. The picture appears as fine dots inside the pattern.
Why does my photo look grainy?
The picture is drawn with the code’s own cells, so it looks like a newspaper print. Short content and a larger download (2048 px or SVG) give the smoothest result.
Last updated 24 October 2026 by the QRizeo team.