Paste the link, print the square, let the phone do the rest
A demonstration is easier to watch than to read, and typing a video address off a printed card is something nobody does twice. Paste the link here and you get a square that opens the clip on the visitor's own phone, in the app or browser they already use, with no sign in and nothing to install.
Tip: Ctrl+C or “Right click\Copy”
Displaying the logo on the QR code may take some time. Just wait for it to load.
When some colors are combined on the QR code, it may not work correctly. Don’t
forget to check before posting!
The code holds a web address and nothing more. Film cannot be encoded: the largest QR version stops at roughly 4296 characters, while a minute of ordinary phone footage runs to several megabytes. So this is a link, and the video has to be hosted somewhere before you make the code.
After the scan the phone shows the address and waits for a tap. Tapping opens the browser, and on most handsets the browser hands a YouTube or TikTok link straight to the installed app, which starts playback. iPhones have read these from the Camera app since iOS 11, Android since version 9, and older Android phones manage through Google Lens. A short link keeps the code sparse, with large modules that survive a small print.
The quiet zone first. Four modules of clear space on every side, and a code trimmed flush to the black is finished. Then size: reading distance divided by ten is the minimum side. A shelf label read at arm's length can be two or three centimetres, a code on a museum wall read from two metres wants about twenty. Below two centimetres nothing reliable happens.
Dark code on a light background. Inverted ones work on a new phone and fail on older readers, which is a poor trade for a bit of style. If you drop a logo into the middle, move error correction to Q or H, and Q is already selected for you. Take SVG or EPS to the printer rather than PNG, since an upscaled raster gives soft module edges and soft edges are what makes a reader hesitate. The printing checklist has the rest of it.
A code made here counts nothing. Static codes have no counter and never report back, so the view figures in your YouTube dashboard are the only numbers you will get, and they will not separate scans from ordinary traffic.
Upload the video first, then make the code. YouTube, Vimeo and TikTok all work, and so does a file on a server you control, but it has to be live and public before the code is printed, because a private or unlisted setting that only you can see will show every scanner an error. Check the address in a browser where you are not signed in. That one test catches most of the failures.
Then test on mobile data rather than office wifi. A visitor in a shop or a gallery is on a weak signal in a building with thick walls, and a six minute clip that starts in a second on your desk can stall for fifteen on theirs. Most people give up before that. Shorter clips start faster and get finished.
The part that gets missed: nearly everyone will watch with the sound off. They are standing in a shop, on a platform or in a museum room where audio would be rude, and their phone is on silent. That makes subtitles more valuable than resolution. Burn captions in or upload a subtitle track, keep any on screen text large enough to read on a six inch display, and make sure the first three seconds show what the clip is about rather than a title card. Filming at 4K when nobody can hear the narration is effort spent in the wrong place. If the video will be swapped for a new edit later, point an editable code at it instead, so the printed square stays valid when the link changes.
No. This page takes a link, so the clip has to be hosted before you make the code. YouTube, Vimeo and TikTok are the usual choices, and a file on your own server works equally well as long as the address is public.
Almost. The camera shows the address first and waits for a tap, which is the phone protecting its owner from opening something unexpected. After the tap, a YouTube or TikTok link usually opens in the app rather than the browser and starts playing.
Not from the code. A static code has no counter and sends nothing back. Your hosting platform will show views, but it will not tell you which of them came from the printed square rather than from a search or a shared link.
Unlisted normally works, since the address is all that is needed. Private does not: anyone scanning will meet a sign in wall. Open the link in a browser window where you are not logged in, and whatever you see there is what every visitor will see.
Yes, more than picture quality. Scans happen in shops, museums and stations where people keep their phones on silent, so a clip that only makes sense with audio is wasted. Burn in captions or add a subtitle track, and keep on screen text large.
Only if you made an editable one. A normal code carries the link for good. The dynamic URL page creates a code you can repoint later, which suits a display that will run past the next re-edit of the film.
