QR code · business cardBusiness card QR code

Encodes the whole contact: name, phone, email, company. A phone offers to save it in one tap — no typing, no exchanging links.

The contact is assembled in your browser and sent nowhere
All code types
01Generator02String03Format04Questions05Related
01

Code generator

Data, styling and correction level — the preview updates on every keystroke
Data
MeCard is more compact — the code comes out simpler and scans more reliably
Mask
Digits, space, + − ; , are allowed
Styling
Frame with a caption

The frame keeps the four-module quiet zone for you — the very margin whose absence is the most common reason a printed code will not scan.

Code colour
Logo
Error correction
No logo — the whole correction budget is free
Export
Size

the background is not filled — the code sits on any surface In the PDF the code is vector and the caption is a 300 dpi image: base PDF fonts carry no Cyrillic, and this is the only way not to lose Russian text.

Payload
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Петров;Иван;;; FN:Иван Петров ORG:ООО «Ромашка» TITLE:Инженер TEL;TYPE=CELL:+7 999 123-45-67 EMAIL:[email protected] URL:https://example.ru END:VCARD
Version 1057 modules
A static code, forever · free · no ads · no server
The code is readable, but there are remarkscontrast 18.5:1
  • Version 10 at level M: modules are small and there is little damage headroom — print it larger
02

What the card weighs

The cost of every field in bytes — measured, not derived from length: a field also pays for its line name, breaks and escaping. From here it is clear what to drop to make the code sparser.
Now
212 bytes in the string
Print limit
400 bytes in the string
Code version
version 10
FieldValueCosts
Last namewith the first name forms the N line and the displayed FN25 bytes in the string
First namewithout it the phone shows a contact with no label17 bytes in the string
Companythe ORG line30 bytes in the string
Job titlethe TITLE line — the first candidate to cut21 bytes in the string
PhoneTEL with type CELL: each extra one costs 25–30 bytes31 bytes in the string
Emailthe EMAIL line22 bytes in the string
Websitea cheap replacement for half the card23 bytes in the string
In MECARD the same card would take 129 bytes — 83 less. MECARD reads reliably on Android, but iOS handles it worse and does not always offer to save the contact.
The size is fine: the code stays sparse and will read off card stock.
03

About the format

vCard is the electronic business card format invented in the nineties that became the common language of address books: plain text with «field: value» lines understood by contacts on iOS, Android, Outlook and macOS. Written into a code, it hands over a contact with one sweep of the camera. Codes use version 3.0 rather than 4.0: the newer one is formally cleaner, but some address books mishandle it and drop fields, and a business card gains nothing from it.

What makes the code unusable

Everything at once on the card

Full name, a three-word job title, two phones, a fax, an address and a tagline. Every field densifies the code, and cards get scanned in cafés in poor light. Keep a name, one phone, one email and the company — the rest belongs on a contact page.

An address in the record

The ADR field has seven parts and costs more than everything else combined. On a card it is almost always redundant: people look up an office address in maps, not in a contact.

Version 4.0 instead of 3.0

The newer version is formally cleaner, but some scanners and address books mishandle it: they drop fields or refuse the record outright. A business card gains nothing and risks everything.

MECARD for an iPhone audience

MECARD is half the size and reads reliably on Android, but iOS handles it worse and does not always offer to save the contact. For a mixed audience vCard 3.0 with fewer fields is safer.

Checked on screen, not on card stock

A business card is printed small and on matte paper. A code that is flawless on a monitor may not read at all off 90×50 mm card stock — especially if the printing is less than perfect.

A link never considered

A code with the address of your contact page is thirty bytes instead of four hundred. The code comes out trivial and the data can change without reprinting cards. The honest downside: it needs a working site, and offline the contact will not save.

04

Frequently asked questions

Because of the volume. Cyrillic takes two bytes per letter in UTF-8, and vCard is verbose: every field carries a line name like `TEL;TYPE=CELL:`, plus line breaks and escaping. A full card with a name, job title, company and address easily reaches 300–400 bytes, the code jumps several versions, and the modules get small.
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