FastQR

License C++ C CMake Shell JavaScript Ruby Node.js PHP

The fastest QR code generator on the planet. 🚀

Generate 1,000 QR codes in 0.37 seconds. Full UTF-8 support. Custom colors. Logo embedding. Precise size control.

🔥 Performance Benchmarks

⌨️ CLI Performance: FastQR vs qrencode

Task: Generate 1,000 QR codes (500×500px)

Library Sequential Mode Batch Mode Speedup
FastQR 2.56s 🚀 0.37s ⚡ 8x faster with batch
qrencode 2.97s 🐌 ❌ Not supported -

FastQR is 16% faster in sequential mode and 8x faster with batch mode!

💎 Ruby Performance: FastQR vs rqrcode

Task: Generate 1,000 QR codes (500×500px)

Library Sequential Mode Batch Mode Speedup
FastQR 3.49s 🚀 0.38s ⚡ 17x faster with batch
rqrcode 59.45s 🐢 ❌ Not supported -

FastQR is 17x faster in sequential mode and 157x faster with batch mode!

🟢 Node.js Performance: FastQR vs qrcode

Task: Generate 1,000 QR codes (500×500px)

Library Sequential Mode Batch Mode Speedup
FastQR 2.43s 🚀 0.46s ⚡ 7x faster with batch
qrcode 17.25s 🐌 ❌ Not supported -

FastQR is 7x faster in sequential mode and 37x faster with batch mode!

🐘 PHP Performance: FastQR vs endroid/qr-code

Task: Generate 1,000 QR codes (500×500px)

Library Sequential Mode Batch Mode Speedup
FastQR 1.75s 🚀 0.64s ⚡ 8.4x faster with batch
endroid/qr-code 14.72s 🐌 ❌ Not supported -

FastQR is 8.4x faster in sequential mode and 23x faster with batch mode!

💪 Why FastQR Dominates

Speed Comparison Summary

Platform Library Sequential Batch FastQR Advantage
⌨️ CLI qrencode 2.97s ❌ 8x faster ⚡
💎 Ruby rqrcode 59.45s ❌ 157x faster 🚀
🟢 Node.js qrcode 17.25s ❌ 37x faster ⚡
🐘 PHP endroid/qr-code 14.72s ❌ 23x faster 🚀

Average: FastQR with batch mode is 56x faster than popular alternatives!

✨ What Makes FastQR Special?

Features That Set Us Apart

Feature FastQR Others
Batch Processing ✅ Up to 157x faster ❌ Not available
Exact Size Control ✅ 2000×2000px exact ❌ Scale-based (imprecise)
Full UTF-8 Support ✅ Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, emoji ⚠️ Limited or none
Custom Colors ✅ RGB foreground + background ⚠️ Limited or none
Logo Embedding ✅ Built-in logo support ⚠️ Limited or none
Language Bindings ✅ Ruby, Node.js, PHP, C++ ✅ Usually supported
Error Correction ✅ 4 levels (L, M, Q, H) ✅ Usually supported

🚀 Key Features

  • ⚡ Blazing Fast: Up to 157x faster than popular alternatives with batch mode
  • 🔥 Batch Processing: Generate 1,000 QR codes in ~0.37 seconds
  • 🌐 Full UTF-8 Support: Vietnamese, Japanese (Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana), Chinese, emoji, and more
  • 🎨 Custom Colors: Choose any RGB color for QR code and background
  • 📐 Exact Size Control: Generate QR codes with precise pixel dimensions (e.g., 2000×2000px)
  • 🖼️ Logo Embedding: Add company logos to the center of QR codes
  • 🛡️ Error Correction: Supports 4 levels (L, M, Q, H)
  • 💾 Multiple Formats: PNG, JPG, WebP
  • 🔧 Multiple Languages: Native bindings for Ruby, Node.js, PHP, and C++

📦 Installation

CLI Installation

macOS (Homebrew):

brew tap tranhuucanh/fastqr
brew install fastqr

Linux (x86_64):

# Download latest release (replace VERSION with latest version, e.g., 1.0.21)
VERSION="1.0.21"
wget https://github.com/tranhuucanh/fastqr/releases/download/v${VERSION}/fastqr-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar -xzf fastqr-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
sudo cp linux-x86_64/bin/fastqr /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/fastqr

# Verify installation
fastqr --version

Linux (ARM64/aarch64):

VERSION="1.0.21"
wget https://github.com/tranhuucanh/fastqr/releases/download/v${VERSION}/fastqr-${VERSION}-linux-aarch64.tar.gz
tar -xzf fastqr-${VERSION}-linux-aarch64.tar.gz
sudo cp linux-aarch64/bin/fastqr /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/fastqr

Language Packages

Ruby:

gem install fastqr

Node.js:

npm install fastqr-pro

PHP:

composer require fastqr/fastqr

Build from Source

# Install dependencies
# macOS:
brew install qrencode libpng cmake

# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install libqrencode-dev libpng-dev cmake build-essential

# Build
git clone https://github.com/tranhuucanh/fastqr.git
cd fastqr
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

See INSTALL.md for more options.

🎯 Quick Start

CLI

Single QR Code:

fastqr "Hello World" output.png
fastqr -s 500 -f 255,0,0 "Red QR" red.png
fastqr -s 500 -f 255,0,0 -b 142,142,142 "Red QR & Gray" red_and_gray.png
fastqr -l logo.png "QR with Logo" branded.png

Batch Mode (8x faster!):

# Create batch.txt with one text per line
echo "https://example.com/user/1" > batch.txt
echo "https://example.com/user/2" >> batch.txt
# ... add 1000 URLs

# Generate 1,000 QR codes in 0.37 seconds ⚡
fastqr -F batch.txt output_dir/

Ruby

require 'fastqr'

# Single QR code
FastQR.generate("Hello World", "qr.png", size: 500)

# Batch mode - 157x faster than rqrcode! 🚀
urls = (1..1000).map { |i| "https://example.com/user/#{i}" }
FastQR.generate_batch(urls, "output/")
# ⚡ Done in 0.38 seconds! (vs 59.45s with rqrcode)

# Custom colors and logo
FastQR.generate("https://example.com", "branded.png",
  size: 800,
  foreground: [255, 0, 0],      # Red QR code
  background: [255, 255, 200],  # Light yellow background
  logo: "logo.png",
  logoSize: 20,
  errorLevel: "H"               # High error correction for logos
)

Node.js

const fastqr = require('fastqr');

// Single QR code
fastqr.generate('Hello World', 'qr.png', { size: 500 });

// Batch mode - 37x faster than qrcode! 🚀
const urls = Array.from({length: 1000}, (_, i) =>
  `https://example.com/user/${i+1}`
);
fastqr.generateBatch(urls, 'output/');
// ⚡ Done in 0.46 seconds! (vs 17.25s with qrcode)

// Custom colors and logo
fastqr.generate('https://example.com', 'branded.png', {
  size: 800,
  foreground: [255, 0, 0],      // Red QR code
  background: [255, 255, 200],  // Light yellow background
  logo: 'logo.png',
  logoSize: 20,
  errorLevel: 'H'               // High error correction for logos
});

PHP

use FastQR\FastQR;

// Single QR code
FastQR::generate('Hello World', 'qr.png', ['size' => 500]);

// Batch mode - Lightning fast! ⚡
$urls = array_map(fn($i) => "https://example.com/user/$i", range(1, 1000));
FastQR::generateBatch($urls, 'output/');
// Done in ~0.4 seconds!

// Custom colors and logo
FastQR::generate('https://example.com', 'branded.png', [
    'size' => 800,
    'foreground' => [255, 0, 0],      // Red QR code
    'background' => [255, 255, 200],  // Light yellow background
    'logo' => 'logo.png',
    'logoSize' => 20,
    'errorLevel' => 'H'               // High error correction for logos
]);

C++

#include <fastqr.h>

// Single QR code
fastqr::QROptions options;
options.size = 500;
fastqr::generate("Hello World", "qr.png", options);

// Batch mode - Blazing fast! 🚀
std::vector<std::string> urls;
for (int i = 1; i <= 1000; i++) {
    urls.push_back("https://example.com/user/" + std::to_string(i));
}
fastqr::generateBatch(urls, "output/", options);
// Done in ~0.4 seconds!

📖 API Reference

QROptions

Option Type Default Description
size int 300 Output size in pixels (QR codes are square)
optimizeSize bool false Auto round-up to nearest integer multiple
foreground RGB array [0,0,0] QR code color (RGB)
background RGB array [255,255,255] Background color (RGB)
errorLevel string 'M' Error correction: L, M, Q, H
logo string "" Path to logo image
logoSize int 20 Logo size as percentage (1-50)
quality int 95 Image quality for lossy formats (1-100)
format string 'png' Output format: png, jpg, webp

Error Correction Levels

Level Recovery Use Case
L (Low) ~7% Maximum data capacity, clean environment
M (Medium) ~15% Balanced (default)
Q (Quartile) ~25% Good for QR codes with logos
H (High) ~30% Best for damaged/dirty environments

Higher levels allow QR codes to remain readable when damaged or have logos embedded.

📚 Documentation

Complete usage guides for each platform:

🏗️ Architecture

FastQR is built on battle-tested, industry-standard libraries:

  • libqrencode (LGPL v2.1) - QR code bit matrix generation
  • libpng - Lightning-fast PNG encoding
  • stb_image (Public Domain) - Efficient image loading

Why so fast?

  • ⚡ Zero process forking overhead
  • 🚀 Optimized native C++ core
  • 💪 Batch mode processes multiple QR codes in a single call
  • 🔥 Efficient memory management and image encoding

📄 License

FastQR is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 (LGPL-2.1).

LGPL Requirements

When using FastQR in your projects:

  1. Open Source Projects: Use freely ✅
  2. Closed Source/Commercial Projects: Use as a library, but:
    • Include a copy of the LGPL license
    • State that your software uses FastQR
    • Users must be able to replace FastQR with a modified version

See LICENSE for full details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
  5. Open a Pull Request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

🐛 Bug Reports

Found a bug? Please open an issue with:

  • Your OS and version
  • FastQR version
  • Steps to reproduce
  • Expected vs actual behavior

🗺️ Roadmap

  • [ ] Windows support
  • [ ] SVG output format
  • [ ] Python bindings
  • [ ] QR code scanning/decoding
  • [ ] Advanced batch processing options

📮 Contact

🙏 Acknowledgments

Special thanks to:

**Made with ❤️ by FastQR Project** *If FastQR saves you time, give us a star!* ⭐ [⬆ Back to top](#fastqr-)