QR Code Blurry: What is QR Code Blurry & How to Avoid Blurriness?
Summary: This is a post that introduces one of the QR code scanning problems – QR code blurry, from the cause to the solutions.
Sometimes, you may find that you can’t scan QR code with your scanners. There are many reasons that your scanners cannot read the barcode. It may be something wrong with your scanning conditions, including overexposure lighting, underexposure lighting, incorrect scanning angle, and more.
These scanning problems can be easily solved. However, if the QR code is still unreadable, you have to think about two reasons – damaged QR code or QR code blurry. QR code damage arises when the barcode is unable to retain data or the barcode gets scratches or spots, whereas a blurry QR code often results from human factors. Addressing the latter issue is feasible, offering a potential solution.
If you happen to face the QR code blurry problem, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, we will share what QR code blurry is, why it happens, and how to avoid the blurry QR code. Now, let’s get started!
What Is QR Code Blurry?
QR code blurry is a common QR code scanning problem that the QR code gets distorted or lacks of clarity. When the visual integrity of the QR code is ruined, it can result in the clarity and sharpness issue of its appearance.
QR code blurry is a serious problem, especially you want to take advantage of QR code to promote marketing. Blurred QR codes discourage customers from scanning and taking part in your business or marketing activities.
Imagine a situation where a website incorporates a QR code on its landing page to direct visitors to a special offer, but due to QR code image pixelation or improper formatting, the barcode appears unclear and hampers successful scanning. Thus, users might abandon the attempt to scan the QR code on their phone, leading to missed opportunities for conversions or interactions.
Why Is QR Code Blurry?
The reason why the blurred QR code occurs is uncertain, because there are many reasons can result in such a problem. It can be the result of a complex QR code design, but more often it will be due to some application environment. Here we will share a list of several causes of QR code blurriness.
1. Printing Quality
Printing quality is an important factor that affects the display of QR codes. Usually, blurred QR codes are also caused by poor printing quality and unqualified printing materials. If the resolution of your printer is too low, coupled with substandard materials, your QR code is greatly likely to be blurred.
2. QR Code Scaling and Proportion
Often, improper scaling or resizing of QR codes is also a major cause of blurring. QR codes are designed to hold a specific amount of data within a certain square size. Zooming in or out of a QR code without maintaining proper proportions can distort the pattern and cause blurring. Some websites are not particularly image friendly and your QR code may be compressed resulting in blurring. Additionally, adjusting the aspect ratio of your QR code to achieve the size you need during the printing process can also result in QR code blurry.
3. Code Degradation
Blurring due to code degradation usually only occurs on printed QR codes. Due to prolonged exposure to air, sunlight, rain, etc., QR codes posted outdoors are very likely to be worn and degraded. This will inevitably lead to some of the QR codes appearing blurred.
QR Code Blurry: Result in QR Code Not Working and Failed Branding
Blurred QR codes are one of the scanning problems, and most of time they are the cause of QR code not working or scanning. Beacuse of it blurred appearance or the bad QR code quality, they fail to carry the goals to help branding or data storation. Besides QR code blurry, QR code scanning problems like damaged QR codes, mismatched QR code size, and expired QR code will result in QR code not working.
Thus, scanners will definitely fail to scan.
It is a severe problem when you plan to promote branding and doing questionnaire via QR codes. When the target audience find that the QR code not scanning, they probably stop trying scanning again. It will discourage your potential audience from interactive engagements. What's worse, they may leave a bad impression on your brands.
All in all, to successfully promote branding, you should make sure all your marketing materials working, so does the QR code.
How to Avoid QR Code Blurriness?
For people who may consider to fix the QR code blurry, you should make it clear that you cannot directly fix blurry QR code that has been already printed out. You may try some tools to improve the clarity of the blurred QR code, so you can try AI unblur image tool to enhance the QR code quality. This may help.
To avoid the blurry QR code in your marketing and branding, you can give our following tips a try to mitigate the blurriness and improve the chances of successful scanning.
Tips to Avoid QR Code Blurry Problem
1. Create Simple-Styled QR Code
When designing your own QR code, consider choosing a simple style for the QR code. Avoid complex QR code patterns that blur when zoomed in, you can choose a less complex style when customizing your QR code with a QR code generator.
2. Adapt High-Quality Printing
As we have just mentioned, the quality of printing is an important factor that causes the blurring of QR code. Often, we can't avoid using printing materials for marketing, so in order to avoid the blurring of QR code, always remember to use qualified printing machine and printing materials to maximize the clarity of the QR code.
3. Attach Additional Information
Sometimes, we can't guarantee that we won't have a blurry QR code, so in order to maximize the success of your marketing, you may choose to provide additional information in the vicinity of the QR code to give your while target users more opportunities to engage, such as social media accounts, contact information, and other text information.
Conclusion:
In this blog, we have shared a severe problem in QR code scanning – QR code blurry. It is caused by many factors, from its creation to the printing process. QR codes are widely used in the branding and marketing, we have to avoid blurry QR code to successful brand promotion. Thus, we have also shared some tips to help you avoid blurriness of QR code. Hope you find this blog helpful!
FAQs:
Does a blurry QR code still work?
It depends. In some cases, a blurry QR code may still work, especially when the blurriness is not severe and the underlying data is relatively simple. Meanwhile, if the QR codes are designed with error correction capabilities, they can still be scanned and decoded when the code is slightly distorted or damaged.
Can a damaged QR code be read?
Yes, damaged QR codes can often still be read to some extent, thanks to the error correction mechanisms built into the QR code design. QR codes are designed to handle various types of damage, such as smudging, minor scratches, and even missing parts of the code.
