QR meaning

What QR stands for

In the term Quick Response Code, the letters QR are an initialism for Quick Response. Denso Wave selected the name to emphasize the central design objective of the symbology: that a scanner be able to locate, orient, and decode the symbol at high speed, irrespective of rotation, and that the decoding operation conclude in a fraction of a second.

Why the name was chosen

The symbology was developed at Denso Wave in response to the operational limits of one-dimensional barcodes in Japanese automotive component tracking. Linear barcodes encoded a limited payload and required precise scanner alignment along a single axis. The team led by Masahiro Hara sought a symbology that could carry a substantially larger payload and be decoded omnidirectionally — that is, quickly, regardless of the orientation in which it presented to the scanner. The name recorded that objective.

QR as a name, not an acronym for the symbology

The initials describe the decoding behavior, not the symbology class. The symbology itself is, in technical terms, a two-dimensional matrix barcode. The descriptor Quick Response attaches to the named symbology and to its successors, including Micro QR, iQR, rMQR, Frame QR, and Secured QR (SQRC).