vCard QR Code Generator for Business Cards

vCard is the plain-text format address books use to exchange contacts; it is what a .vcf file contains. A vCard QR code simply holds that text:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Lovelace;Ada;;;
FN:Ada Lovelace
ORG:Analytical Engines Ltd
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+44 7700 900123
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET:ada@example.com
URL:https://example.com
END:VCARD

When a phone camera reads it, the phone offers to create a new contact with every field filled in. The contact lives in the code itself, so it works offline, needs no app and never expires. Hosted "digital business card" services work differently: their code holds a link to a web page, which stops working if the service shuts down or the subscription lapses.

Use 3.0 unless a system specifically asks for 4.0. It is the long-established version that phone cameras (including the iPhone's) and the major contacts apps import.

Both versions escape commas, semicolons and backslashes with a backslash and write line breaks as \n, so a company called "Smith, Jones & Co" or a two-line note survives the scan. Lines longer than 75 bytes are folded onto the next line after a space, as both standards ask; contacts apps unfold them automatically.

Every character becomes modules, and a card with a full postal address and a long note can need a grid several times larger than one with a name, a phone and an email. On a business card that is the difference between a code that scans at a glance and one that needs a steady hand.

• Include name, job title, company, one mobile number, email and website.
• Skip a home address on anything you hand to strangers.
• Write numbers in international format (+44 7700 900123), so they work from any country.
• Use error correction M for print; choose H only when you add a logo.

The meter under the preview shows the version (grid size) and how full it is as you type. If the code gets dense, move details to your website and keep the code short.

Download the SVG and place it in your design tool (Canva, Illustrator, Figma, InDesign): it is vector, so the printer gets perfectly sharp edges at any size. Then:

• Give it a short label such as "Scan to save my contact", so people know it does more than open a website.
• Keep the white quiet zone around it, and print dark on light: a pale brand color on a dark card often fails.
• Put it on the back of the card, where it does not compete with your name.
• Order one proof and scan it with two phones before printing the full run.

Not in practice. vCard has a PHOTO property, but an embedded image is Base64 text tens of kilobytes long, and the largest QR code holds under 3 KB. A photo URL is allowed by the format, but whether a contacts app fetches it is up to the app.

If you want a photo, send the .vcf file instead: download it here, attach it to an email or add it to your website, and the photo can be added in the contacts app. For the printed card, keep the QR code to the essentials and let the person's phone do the rest.