Every shop that prints a QR code has the same first question: how big. The honest answer is that the question has two parts, and only the second one is about paper.
The first part is the module — the smallest black square in the pattern. Once the module is big enough for a printer and a phone camera, the code will scan at a distance set by its overall width. Get the module too small and no amount of extra paper helps; get the quiet zone wrong and the code fails at any size at all. This page is those two numbers, then the four formats a menu actually gets printed in.
First, the number nobody prints: the module
A QR code is a grid. Denso Wave, who invented it, publishes the arithmetic: the smallest version has 21 modules a side, and each higher version adds four modules; how small you can print one module depends on the printer, and a common laser printer manages about 0.17 mm per module, which makes the smallest possible version-1 code roughly 3.6 mm across (read from Denso Wave's own FAQ, 14 November 2026). Their guidance for stable printing is that each module should be made of at least four printer dots: 0.17 mm at 600 dpi, 0.33 mm on a 300 dpi thermal printer.
The grid does not stay at 21 modules. It grows with the data. Our own page addresses come out as version 4 — 33 modules a side, and the required margin of four modules on every side makes the printed area 41 modules wide. That is the number every width on this page is divided by:
| Printed piece | Code | Per module | Scans from |
|---|---|---|---|
| A4 QR poster (210 × 297 mm) | 126 mm | 3.07 mm | ~1.2 m |
| Table tent, front panel (A5 after the fold) | 62 mm | 1.51 mm | ~60 cm |
| Wi-Fi card, two codes (4 per A4) | 48 mm | 1.17 mm | ~45 cm |
| 70 mm table sticker (69.8 mm label) | 40 mm | 0.98 mm | ~40 cm |
| Table tent, back panel | 30 mm | 0.73 mm | ~30 cm |
| Print menu sheet, corner code | 20 mm | 0.49 mm | ~20 cm |
Every one of those is above the 0.33 mm floor a 300 dpi printer needs, and the poster is eighteen times above the 0.17 mm floor of a laser printer. The widths were measured in the PDFs themselves, not chosen for a screenshot: the poster's code box is 126.0 × 126.0 mm on a 210 × 297 mm page.
The one-line rule: decide how far away the customer stands, multiply by 10, and make the code that wide — then check that a single module is at least 0.3 mm so the printer can hold the edge. A 20 mm code is not "small"; it is a code for a sheet held in the hand.
The scan-distance rule, and what it is not
The rule of thumb is 1:10 — the code is a tenth of the distance. Someone scanning from a metre needs a 100 mm code. It appears in every practical guide, and it is genuinely useful for choosing between 40 mm and 120 mm.
It is also not in ISO/IEC 18004, the QR standard. The standard specifies the symbol, not how far a phone can read it; that depends on the camera's resolution, the light, the paper and the phone's own decoding. Treat 1:10 as the planning number and the print proof as the verdict. If a code has to work from a car window at two metres, 200 mm is the starting point, not 126 mm.
The quiet zone: the failure that has nothing to do with size
A QR code needs four clear modules of background on all four sides. Denso Wave's own instruction is a four-module margin, and the GS1 guideline for 2D barcodes (release 1.1.0, ratified December 2025) puts it exactly: for a QR code the quiet zone is four times the X-dimension — four times one module — while Data Matrix needs one. At a 0.49 mm module that margin is just 2 mm; at 3.07 mm it is 12 mm per side, which is why a poster code needs 12 mm of empty paper around it before the shop name starts.
Three things ruin it, and all three are design decisions rather than misprints:
- Text or a border placed inside the margin. "Scan me" in a rounded box that touches the code is the classic.
- A photo behind the code. Contrast is the other half of the margin's job.
- The margin in the wrong colour. The quiet zone must be the same colour as the code's background. A white code on a dark poster needs a dark margin, not the white paper.
Our files include the margin in the stated width — the 126 mm on the poster is the code plus its margin, so measuring the printed black square will give you about 101 mm. Measure the whole thing, including the empty border.
Resolution, pixels, and the "fit to page" trap
Print the PDF. It is vector: the modules are drawn, not sampled, so the edges stay sharp whether the code is 20 mm or 200 mm. A PNG is a grid of pixels in disguise, and it only survives one size.
If a PNG is all you have, size it for 300 dpi. One millimetre is 11.8 pixels at that resolution, so a 126 mm code needs 1,488 px and a 40 mm sticker needs 472 px. Our standalone PNG is 1,200 px: enough for anything up to about 100 mm, which is why the poster ships as a PDF and the PNG is described as "for flyers and anything you print later".
Then the dialog. Print at 100% / actual size. "Fit to page" is how A4 artwork lands on US Letter — 215.9 × 279.4 mm against A4's 210 × 297 — and the paper's shorter height forces a 94% scale. The code shrinks from 126 mm to 118 mm and, more annoyingly, the cut marks on a sticker sheet stop matching the labels.
The four formats, and what each one is for
Same page, same address, four sizes. That is the point of printing them from one source: a price change happens once, on the page, and every piece of paper keeps pointing at the truth.
Table tent — A4 folded in half, code 62 mm on the front, 30 mm on the back — one per table, standing up. Printed on 200–250 gsm card so the fold holds. The front is the menu code; the back carries the hours, the Wi-Fi or the one line you want repeated.
70 mm sticker — 69.8 mm label, code 40 mm, eight per A4 sheet — table corners, the till, the mirror, the napkin dispenser. Peel and stick, in the size that fits furniture rather than paper.
Wi-Fi card — four cards on one A4, two 48 mm codes per card — one code joins the network (the phone reads the SSID and password out of it), the second opens the menu. This is the piece that stops the "what's the password" conversation, and it is the one most shops forget.
The menu sheet is the fifth, and its corner code is deliberately small: 20 mm. It is a secondary code on a sheet that is already in the customer's hand, so it is there to be found, not to be scanned from across the room. If that sheet is the only code your shop has, print it bigger.
What to tell the print shop
- PDF, printed at 100%. Say the words; the default on most order forms is "fit".
- 200–250 gsm card for the tents, 120 gsm is a tent that flops by the second service.
- Matte, not gloss, for anything on a table: a glossy sheet plus a ceiling light equals glare, and glare is the third reason codes fail.
- Black on white. Not a brand colour on a brand colour. Colour codes work only when the dark ink still absorbs red light, and it is not worth guessing.
- One proof sheet first. Fold it, stand it up, put it where it will live, and scan it from the seat. The mistakes you cannot see on a screen take four seconds to find on paper.
The sixty-second proof test
Before a batch, print one of each and do this, in order:
- Measure the code including its margin with a ruler. If it is smaller than the number on this page, the printer scaled the sheet.
- Scan from the distance you expect, standing where the customer will stand — not leaning over the paper.
- Turn the shop Wi-Fi off. Guests are not on your network, and a code that only works on it is a code that fails for everyone.
- Try both kinds of phone. The camera app on iOS and Android read codes without an app; older Androids sometimes need a moment or a second tap.
- Read where it lands. The code can be perfect and the page behind it can still be a Maps listing with no prices, which is the failure that costs the most.
That last point is the one worth repeating: the code is a picture of an address. Everything a customer judges — the prices, the hours, whether they can call — happens after the scan. A perfectly sized code pointed at a page with no prices is a well-printed dead end.
What we print, and why those sizes
The sizes above are the ones our kit uses, and they are the ones in the samples on this site: an A4 poster at 126 mm, a tent at 62 mm, stickers at 40 mm on a 69.8 mm label, Wi-Fi cards with two 48 mm codes. They were chosen by working backwards from the distance — the poster for someone at a door, the sticker for someone at a table — and then checked against the printer floors above. Nothing in the kit is smaller than 20 mm, and the 20 mm one is a corner code on a sheet already in the hand.
Want the arithmetic for your own shop instead of ours? The calculator puts a monthly builder next to a one-off page over three years, and stores nothing you type.
Questions we get asked
How big should a QR code be on an A4 poster?
100–150 mm across, with four modules of clear space on every side. Ours is 126 mm on a 210 mm page: readable from 1–1.5 m, with room left for the shop name, the hours and one instruction.
What is the smallest QR code that still scans?
The printer's floor is about 0.17 mm per module on a laser printer (Denso Wave). The practical floor is the distance: 20 mm is fine for a sheet in the hand, and too small for anything on a wall. Test with a real phone before the run.
Why does my code not scan when it looks big enough?
Almost always the quiet zone — text, a border, a fold or a photo inside the four-module margin — or contrast, such as a white code on a dark background, or gloss under a downlight.
PDF or PNG?
PDF for print: vector, sharp at any size. A PNG at 300 dpi needs 11.8 pixels per millimetre, so 1,488 px for a 126 mm code. Our standalone PNG is 1,200 px, which covers up to about 100 mm.
Does "fit to page" matter?
It does. A4 art printed onto US Letter at "fit" lands at about 94%, so the code shrinks to 118 mm and the sticker cut marks drift off the labels. Print at 100%.
How far can a 40 mm code be scanned from?
About 40 cm by the 1:10 rule — a table, a till, a counter. For a door poster, use 120–150 mm; for a window seen from the pavement, more.
Related reading: what a table tent has to say, the QR menu and Maps link chain, and running a menu page without a POS contract.
The files, printed at these sizes
Send a Maps link, your price list and your phone number. Within 24 hours: the live mobile page, the A4 QR poster, the print menu, the table cards, the table tents, the 70 mm stickers, the Wi-Fi cards and the rest of the fifteen pieces — $49 once, nothing monthly. A shop with no tables gets the eight-file version at the same price.
Try the page before you decide — thirty seconds, free, and it stays free:
Create a page — free See three live samples
Sources, read on 14 November 2026: qrcode.com/en/faq (Denso Wave) — minimum printable module about 0.17 mm with a common laser printer, smallest version 21 × 21 modules, a four-module margin on all sides, and the recommendation that each module be made of at least four printer dots (0.33 mm at 300 dpi, 0.17 mm at 600 dpi). ref-pd.gs1.org/guidelines/2d-in-retail, "2D Barcodes at Retail Point-of-Sale Implementation Guideline", release 1.1.0 ratified December 2025 — for QR Code the quiet zone is four times the X-dimension on all four sides. The 1:10 distance rule is an industry planning heuristic, not a requirement of ISO/IEC 18004, and this page says so where it uses it. Widths, module counts and page sizes were measured in the PDFs produced for this site's showcase (A4 = 210 × 297 mm; the code for a 48-character page address is version 4, 33 modules across, 41 with the margin). Print paper weights and the matte/laser advice are our own print notes, not vendor claims. MapToSite's own prices are on this site; the free page stays free and the kits are one-off payments handled by Polar as merchant of record.