A transparent QR code drops the white square so the code sits directly on your artwork. The generator below is already set to transparent. Download it as a PNG with a real alpha channel, or as an SVG with no background drawn at all. Free, no account.
The generator runs in your browser. Make a QR code.
A scanner does not look for a white square. It looks for contrast between the dark modules and whatever is behind them. Turning the background transparent does not change the code, it just stops us painting anything underneath it. Whatever you place it on becomes the background.
That includes the quiet zone. The QR specification requires a clear margin four modules wide around the pattern, and on a transparent code that margin is only clear if the artwork behind it is. A transparent code dropped onto a photograph has no quiet zone at all, which is why it scans in your design tool and fails on the printed piece.
PNG and SVG handle this differently. A PNG stores transparency as an alpha channel per pixel. An SVG simply has no background element, so it is transparent by construction and stays that way at any size.
Busy backgrounds destroy contrast.
A photo behind the code gives the scanner competing edges to resolve. If the background is not close to flat, put the code on a solid panel instead.
Dark backgrounds invert it.
Black modules on a dark surface is not low contrast, it is no contrast. Switch the module colour to something light and test it, because inverted codes are read inconsistently across scanner apps.
JPEG has no transparency.
Save a transparent code as JPEG and the alpha channel is flattened, usually onto black. Keep it as PNG or SVG all the way to the layout.
Print does not have an alpha channel.
Transparency is composited before it reaches the press, against whatever is beneath it in the file. Check the flattened proof rather than the layered artwork.
Office software fills it in.
Some editors composite a transparent PNG onto white when it is pasted, and others onto the slide colour. If the code has to survive that trip, keep the background.
Use it without an account
Static QR codes need no email, no signup and no account of any kind.
Free PNG and SVG download
Both formats, full resolution, no account. Vector export is the thing most generators put behind a signup.
No watermark, ever
Nothing is stamped on your code on any plan, including the free one.
Static codes never expire
A static code has the URL encoded directly in it. It cannot be switched off later, by us or anyone else.
Your URL never reaches our servers
Static codes are generated entirely in your browser. We could not log what you encode if we wanted to.
Dynamic codes are the only paid part
Trackable, editable codes run through our servers, so they need an account. Free covers 5 codes and 500 scans a month; paid starts at $3.
Static, because a transparent code is nearly always being placed into artwork that is about to be printed, and a printed code should not depend on a redirect staying paid for.
A static QR code has the URL encoded directly in the pattern. It works forever and offline, but the destination can never be changed. A dynamic QR code is a short link that redirects, so you can edit the destination and count scans after the code is printed. Static codes are free here with no account. Dynamic codes need a free account (5 codes and 500 scans a month), and paid plans start at $3/month.
Download a free SVG QR code with no account and no watermark. Vector output stays sharp at any size, from a business card to a trade show banner.
Make a plain black and white QR code free, with no account. Maximum contrast and square modules, which is the most reliable option for printing.
Generate a print quality QR code free, with no account. Download a high resolution PNG, or an SVG that stays sharp at any size you print it.
Download a QR code with no watermark and no account. Nothing is stamped on your code on any plan, including the free one. PNG and SVG both free.
Make a QR code that never expires, free and with no account. A static code has the destination encoded in the pattern, so it cannot be switched off.