Both encode data in printable patterns readable by machines. The practical differences decide which you need.
A barcode is a licence plate — a short ID looked up in a database. A QR code is a payload — it carries the content itself: a full URL, WiFi credentials, a contact card.
A retail barcode (EAN-13) holds 13 digits. A QR code holds up to ~4,000 characters — roughly 300× more, in less space. That is why a barcode needs a till system behind it while a QR code works with any phone camera and no database.
Barcodes read in one dimension and need a level sweep; QR codes read in two dimensions from any angle, upside down, off-centre — the three corner squares orient the scanner (how that works). Phones read QR natively; most phone cameras do not read retail barcodes without an extra app.
A scratched barcode is dead. A QR code carries error correction that survives up to 30% damage — which is also what makes logo-in-code designs possible.
Retail checkout (EAN/UPC is the global till standard), legacy warehouse scanners, and anywhere the reading hardware already exists. You cannot put a QR code through a supermarket till — product barcodes are issued through GS1, not generated freely.
Everything consumer-facing: marketing, menus, payments, tickets, asset tags read by phones. If the scanner in question is a human with a phone, QR is the answer — and you can make one free in a minute.
Technically yes — a two-dimensional barcode. In everyday use "barcode" means the striped 1D retail kind, which holds ~13 digits versus QR's thousands of characters.
Not at the till — retail requires GS1-issued EAN/UPC codes. GS1's "Sunrise 2027" initiative is moving retail toward QR-style 2D codes, but tills lead that change, not labels.
Phone cameras scan QR natively; striped retail barcodes usually need Google Lens or a shopping app.
QR by ~300×: up to about 4,000 characters versus 13 digits on a retail barcode.
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