Reading the colours
- Finder patterns (purple): the three big squares. They tell the scanner where the code is and which way up.
- Separators: a one-module white border around each finder.
- Timing patterns (orange): alternating dark and light between the finders, so the scanner can count modules.
- Alignment patterns (green): small squares that let the scanner correct for a curved or tilted surface. Version 1 has none; larger versions have many.
- Format information (red): 15 bits, stored twice, giving the error-correction level and the mask.
- Version information (teal): from version 7 upwards, 18 bits saying which version this is.
- Data (black and white): your content plus error-correction codewords.
Try it yourself
Now that you can see the parts, the explainer walks through what the scanner does with each of them.