When to use it
Anything with a web address: a landing page, a form, a video, a booking page, an app download. It is the type most people mean when they say “a QR code”. If the destination is a page you might later move or replace, make it a dynamic code so the printed image keeps working.
How it behaves on phones
iPhone: the Camera app shows a yellow banner with the domain. Tapping it opens Safari. If the address is a shortener, the banner shows the shortener’s domain, not yours.
Android: the camera or Google Lens shows the link with a small preview and an open button. Most Android scanners behave the same way. A few older ones show the raw text and ask the user to confirm.
Common mistake
Encoding example.com/page without the https://. Phones cannot tell a bare domain from a sentence, so they show it as text and the person has to copy and paste it. Always include the scheme.
Gotchas
HTTPS, not HTTP. Browsers now warn on plain HTTP pages, and some corporate networks block them. If your site has a certificate, encode the secure address so the scan does not hit a redirect.
The uppercase trick. QR codes have an alphanumeric mode that stores capital letters, digits, space and the symbols $ % * + - . / : in fewer bits than byte mode. HTTPS://EXAMPLE.COM/PAGE is smaller than https://example.com/page. Domains are case insensitive, so the host part is safe. Paths often are not: /Page and /page can be different files on the server. The mode also has no ?, =, & or _, so any address with a query string falls back to byte mode. Use it for short, simple addresses you have tested.
Tracking bloat. https://example.com/offer is 25 characters and fits a version 2 code, 25 modules wide. Add ?utm_source=poster&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=spring2026 and you are at 82 characters and version 5, 37 modules wide. At the same print size each module is a third smaller, so the code needs to be larger or closer to scan. Put the tracking on a redirect you control instead.
Shorteners. A shortened link is small and easy to swap, but the person scanning sees an unfamiliar domain and may not trust it. A shortener that shuts down takes every printed code with it.
Try it in QR Studio
QR Studio makes URL codes with a logo, custom colours and SVG export. Dynamic codes can be pointed at a new page later without reprinting.
Print advice
Level M is the default for a URL and suits most posters and packaging. Go to Q if the code carries a logo or will be scanned in poor light. The size rule is simple: the width of the code in centimetres should be about a tenth of the scan distance. A poster read from 2 m needs a 20 cm code; a leaflet read from 25 cm needs 2.5 cm. Print the domain in text under the code so people know where it leads.
Try it yourself
Paste your address and see which version it needs, then try it again without the tracking parameters.