How to put a QR code in a video so it still scans
Give Vizard Agent the code as a file and ask for it at exact pixel dimensions. It builds the end card as a transparent overlay so the code is composited rather than resampled, keeps the quiet margin around it intact, holds it on screen long enough to be scanned, and then reads the code back off a rendered frame to check it survived.
What do you type into Vizard Agent?
Ask Vizard Agent for the placement in pixels rather than in proportions. This is the one piece of on-screen artwork where "make it look right in the layout" is the wrong instruction, because the code either survives at a size it can be drawn cleanly at, or it does not. Send the original file, not a screenshot, which has already been resampled once.
Prompt
What does Vizard Agent actually do?
A QR code is a grid of hard-edged squares, the worst possible thing to put through a scaling pass and a video encoder. So Vizard Agent treats the code as artwork with a fixed size rather than as an element in a layout, here on ads that ended on a card with a code, a logo and a store badge. In the sessions behind this article it:
- Checked the file's format and real dimensions and set the code to an exact pixel size for the output.
- Built the card as a transparent overlay at full resolution and composited it rather than scaling it into place.
- Kept the quiet margin clear of other elements and put the code on a plain area of the card.
- Measured how long the card was visible, since a phone needs a couple of seconds to find and lock onto a code.
- Rendered a frame from the finished video and tried to read the code from it, ready to enlarge or simplify it if it did not read.
When does this not work well?
Some formats simply do not have the pixels. A dense code carrying a long URL, shown small in a vertical video that a platform will re-encode again, may not survive whatever you do, and the answer there is a shorter link or a spoken one. Busy backgrounds and fast-moving cards also defeat the grid.
Common questions
Why does it stop working on video? Scaling softens the squares and compression blurs the edges. Vizard Agent avoids the first and checks for the second.
How long should the card hold? A few seconds at least. Vizard Agent measures the visibility.
Does a shorter URL help? Considerably. Fewer squares means bigger squares, and Vizard Agent will say when yours is too dense.