A scannable shortcut to a prefilled email
Typing an email address from a poster or business card is error-prone, and a single wrong character means the message never arrives. An email QR code removes that friction: one scan opens a ready-to-send draft addressed to exactly the right inbox, with the subject and message already filled in.
How it works
The tool builds a standard mailto URI from your inputs — mailto: followed by the recipient, then URL-encoded subject and body parameters — and renders it as a QR code. Only the recipient is required; the subject and message are optional and only added when you fill them in. When someone scans the code, their phone recognises the mailto link and opens the default mail app with everything prefilled, leaving the final tap-to-send to them.
What gets encoded
The mailto URI follows the standard format defined in RFC 6068:
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Help%20request&body=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20help%20with...
Spaces become %20, commas become %2C, and so on. Any modern phone camera or QR app — including the built-in iOS and Android camera apps — recognises the mailto scheme and offers to open the device’s default mail client. No third-party app is required.
| Field | Required | Where it appears in the URI |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient | Yes | Directly after mailto: |
| Subject | No | ?subject= parameter |
| Message body | No | &body= parameter |
When to use an email QR code
- Business cards — lets people tap to send a quick intro or enquiry without typing your address
- Product packaging — link to a support or feedback address with a pre-tagged subject so incoming messages are easy to sort
- Event signage — attendees can scan to register interest, send questions, or request follow-up information
- Printed support documentation — pre-fills the device or product reference in the body so your support team gets useful context automatically
- Website contact shortcut — some visitors prefer to send email from their own client rather than fill a web form
PNG vs SVG download
Choose PNG for digital uses: email signatures, slide decks, social media posts, or anywhere a fixed-size image is appropriate. Choose SVG for anything printed — business cards, banners, packaging — because SVG scales to any physical size without losing sharpness. A QR code that becomes blurry or pixelated when printed large can fail to scan reliably.
A note on privacy
Because the QR code is generated entirely in your browser, your email address, subject, and message body are never sent to any server. If you are generating a code for a private or internal address, you can do so without exposing that address to any third party.