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Glossary

FrameQR

FrameQR is a Denso Wave QR variant that reserves a canvas area inside the symbol for logos, illustrations or photos by design. Unlike an ordinary logo overlay, the image space is excluded from the data region, so no error-correction budget is spent hiding it. Generation requires Denso Wave's licensed tools.

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Design-in, not damage

The usual way to brand a code is an overlay: place a logo on the centre and let error correction reconstruct the modules it hides: the logo is literally treated as damage. FrameQR, announced by Denso Wave in 2014, takes the opposite approach: the symbol layout itself reserves a canvas region (centre or other shapes) that carries no data. Artwork placed there costs nothing from the damage budget, so the full correction capacity stays available for real-world wear, and the canvas can be proportionally larger than a safe overlay logo.

The catch

FrameQR is proprietary. Generating one requires Denso Wave's licensed generators or SDK, and while many phone readers do decode FrameQR symbols (the data region is QR-compatible), support is not as universal as for standard codes, some decoding libraries reject the non-standard geometry. There is no free, open FrameQR generator to recommend.

For most purposes the open route gets close enough: a standard code at level H with a centre logo under ~20% coverage is supported by every reader on earth. The trade-offs are laid out in how logos work without breaking a code and logo best practices, and whichever route you take, decode the finished artwork before printing.

FAQ

A logo overlay consumes error-correction capacity, the reader repairs the hidden modules as if damaged. FrameQR reserves the image area at the format level, spending nothing, but requires Denso Wave's proprietary tooling to generate.

Can any phone scan a FrameQR code?

Most mainstream camera apps read them, but support is less universal than for standard QR codes and some libraries fail on them. A standard code with a modest logo is the safer choice for a broad audience.

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Related

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  • iQR code, iQR is Denso Wave's proprietary successor to the QR code: square or rectangular, denser, restorable from more damage, and not readable by phone cameras.
  • Error correction level, Error correction level sets how much of a QR code can be damaged and still decode: L tolerates about 7%, M 15%, Q 25% and H 30%. Higher levels cost…
  • Module, A module is one square cell of a QR code: the smallest unit of the pattern. Codes are measured in modules, not pixels or millimetres, because the module…