What is a QR Code anyway?

You've probably noticed a square barcode pasted to a graffitied light pole or on the back of a business card.

That pixelated code, shaped in a square, is called a QR code. They help you download apps and give you contactless access to a restaurant's menu. They can be found on marketing billboards, websites, or social media to promote items and deals.

Despite being a mid-90s invention, the QR code gained real momentum in the era of smartphones. Mobile devices allowed the digital mark to be used in more dynamic and diverse ways, making it easy — and contactless — to connect to and share information in the pandemic era.

Here's what you need to know about QR codes.

What is a QR code?

Invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara, chief engineer of Denso Wave, a Japanese company and subsidiary of Toyota, the QR code was initially used to track vehicles and parts as they moved through the manufacturing process.

Short for Quick Response, QR codes are a type of barcode easily readable by digital devices like smartphones. They store information as a series of pixels in a square grid that can be read in two directions — top to bottom and right to left — unlike standard barcodes that can only be read from top to bottom.

QR codes can store about 7,000 digits or around 4,000 characters, including punctuation and special characters. It can also encode information like phone numbers or internet addresses. The arrangement of each QR code varies depending on the information it contains, which changes the arrangement of its black modules.