Windows has no built-in way to scan a code on your screen. Here's what works.
Point your phone at the screen
- Open your phone's camera app
- Aim it at the code on your monitor
- Tap the link or text that appears
Works for most QR codes. Doesn't work for 1D barcodes (UPC, EAN, Code 128), and the result ends up on your phone, not your computer.
Or upload a screenshot to a decoder site
- Take a screenshot of the code (see our screenshot guide)
- Upload it to an online QR or barcode decoder
- Copy the result
More steps, and you're sending your image to a third-party server.
Looking for a simpler alternative? UnicornOCR scans any code on your screen directly. Drag a box around it, and the decoded text is on your clipboard. No phone, no uploads.
Why Windows can't do this
The Camera app can scan a QR code through your webcam, but only if you hold a physical code up to it. It can't read anything on your screen. Some browsers (like Google Lens in Chrome) can identify QR codes in web images, but only within the browser and typically only QR codes.
If the code is in a PDF, email, video call, or remote desktop session, no built-in tool handles it.
If you scan codes often
UnicornOCR is a Windows tray app that decodes codes from anything visible on your screen — browser, PDF, email, video call, remote desktop. Click the tray icon or press a hotkey, drag over the code, done.
Supported formats (15+)
- QR Code
- PDF417
- Aztec
- Data Matrix
- UPC-A / UPC-E
- EAN-13 / EAN-8
- Code 39 / 93 / 128
- Codabar
- ITF (Interleaved 2 of 5)
- DataBar (RSS-14)
- DataBar Expanded
Shipping labels, product barcodes, inventory codes, ID badges — not just QR codes.
Available on the Microsoft Store. Runs offline, nothing leaves your machine.