ZXing

Runs on your favorite ECMAScript ecosystem

If it doesn't, we gonna make it.

What is ZXing?

ZXing ("zebra crossing") is an open-source, multi-format 1D/2D barcode image processing library implemented in Java, with ports to other languages.

Supported Formats

See Projects and Milestones for what is currently done and what's planned next. 👀

1D product	1D industrial	2D
UPC-A	Code 39	QR Code
UPC-E	Code 93	Data Matrix
EAN-8	Code 128	Aztec *
EAN-13	Codabar	PDF 417
	ITF	MaxiCode
	RSS-14
	RSS-Expanded *

* In progress, may have open PR.

Status

Demo

See Live Preview in browser.

Note: All the examples are using ES6, be sure is supported in your browser or modify as needed, Chrome recommended.

Installation

npm i @zxing/library --save

or

yarn add @zxing/library

Usage

Use on browser with ES6 modules:

1<script type="module">
2  import { BrowserQRCodeReader } from '@zxing/library';
3
4  const codeReader = new BrowserQRCodeReader();
5  const img = document.getElementById('img');
6
7  try {
8      const result = await codeReader.decodeFromImage(img);
9  } catch (err) {
10      console.error(err);
11  }
12
13  console.log(result);
14</script>

Or asynchronously:

1<script type="module">
2  import('@zxing/library').then({ BrowserQRCodeReader } => {
3
4    const codeReader = new BrowserQRCodeReader();
5    const img = document.getElementById('img');
6
7    try {
8        const result = await codeReader.decodeFromImage(img);
9    } catch (err) {
10        console.error(err);
11    }
12
13    console.log(result);
14
15  });
16</script>

Use on browser with AMD:

1<script type="text/javascript" src="https://unpkg.com/requirejs"></script>
2<script type="text/javascript">
3  require(['@zxing/library'], ZXing => {
4    const codeReader = new ZXing.BrowserQRCodeReader();
5    const img = document.getElementById('img');
6
7    try {
8        const result = await codeReader.decodeFromImage(img);
9    } catch (err) {
10        console.error(err);
11    }
12
13    console.log(result);
14  });
15</script>

Use on browser with UMD:

1<script type="text/javascript" src="https://unpkg.com/@zxing/library@latest"></script>
2<script type="text/javascript">
3  window.addEventListener('load', () => {
4    const codeReader = new ZXing.BrowserQRCodeReader();
5    const img = document.getElementById('img');
6
7    try {
8        const result = await codeReader.decodeFromImage(img);
9    } catch (err) {
10        console.error(err);
11    }
12
13    console.log(result);
14  });
15</script>

Use outside the browser with CommonJS:

1const { MultiFormatReader, BarcodeFormat } = require('@zxing/library/esm5'); // use this path since v0.5.1
2
3const hints = new Map();
4const formats = [BarcodeFormat.QR_CODE, BarcodeFormat.DATA_MATRIX/*, ...*/];
5
6hints.set(DecodeHintType.POSSIBLE_FORMATS, formats);
7
8const reader = new MultiFormatReader();
9
10reader.setHints(hints);
11
12const luminanceSource = new RGBLuminanceSource(imgByteArray, imgWidth, imgHeight);
13const binaryBitmap = new BinaryBitmap(new HybridBinarizer(luminanceSource));
14
15reader.decode(binaryBitmap);

Browser Support

The browser layer is using the MediaDevices web API which is not supported by older browsers.

You can use external polyfills like WebRTC adapter to increase browser compatibility.

Also, note that the library is using the TypedArray (Int32Array, Uint8ClampedArray, etc.) which are not available in older browsers (e.g. Android 4 default browser).

You can use core-js to add support to these browsers.

In the PDF 417 decoder recent addition, the library now makes use of the new BigInt type, which is not supported by all browsers as well. There's no way to polyfill that and ponyfill libraries are way to big, but even if PDF 417 decoding relies on BigInt the rest of the library shall work ok in browsers that doesn't support it.

There's no polyfills for BigInt in the way it's coded in here.

Scanning from Video Camera

To display the input from the video camera you will need to add a video element in the HTML page:

1<video
2  id="video"
3  width="300"
4  height="200"
5  style="border: 1px solid gray"
6></video>

To start decoding, first obtain a list of video input devices with:

1const codeReader = new ZXing.BrowserQRCodeReader();
2
3codeReader
4  .listVideoInputDevices()
5  .then(videoInputDevices => {
6    videoInputDevices.forEach(device =>
7      console.log(`${device.label}, ${device.deviceId}`)
8    );
9  })
10  .catch(err => console.error(err));

If there is just one input device you can use the first deviceId and the video element id (in the example below is also 'video') to decode:

1const firstDeviceId = videoInputDevices[0].deviceId;
2
3codeReader
4  .decodeOnceFromVideoDevice(firstDeviceId, 'video')
5  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
6  .catch(err => console.error(err));

If there are more input devices then you will need to chose one for codeReader.decodeOnceFromVideoDevice device id parameter.

You can also provide undefined for the device id parameter in which case the library will automatically choose the camera, preferring the main (environment facing) camera if more are available:

1codeReader
2  .decodeOnceFromVideoDevice(undefined, 'video')
3  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
4  .catch(err => console.error(err));

Scanning from Video File

Similar as above you can use a video element in the HTML page:

1<video
2  id="video"
3  width="300"
4  height="200"
5  style="border: 1px solid gray"
6></video>

And to decode the video from an url:

1const codeReader = new ZXing.BrowserQRCodeReader();
2const videoSrc = 'your url to a video';
3
4codeReader
5  .decodeFromVideo('video', videoSrc)
6  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
7  .catch(err => console.error(err));

You can also decode the video url without showing it in the page, in this case no video element is needed in HTML.

1codeReader
2  .decodeFromVideoUrl(videoUrl)
3  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
4  .catch(err => console.error(err));
5
6// or alternatively
7
8codeReader
9  .decodeFromVideo(null, videoUrl)
10  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
11  .catch(err => console.error(err));

Scanning from Image

Similar as above you can use a img element in the HTML page (with src attribute set):

1<img
2  id="img"
3  src="qrcode-image.png"
4  width="200"
5  height="300"
6  style="border: 1px solid gray"
7/>

And to decode the image:

1const codeReader = new ZXing.BrowserQRCodeReader();
2const img = document.getElementById('img');
3
4codeReader
5  .decodeFromImage(img)
6  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
7  .catch(err => console.error(err));

You can also decode the image url without showing it in the page, in this case no img element is needed in HTML:

1const imgSrc = 'url to image';
2
3codeReader
4  .decodeFromImage(undefined, imgSrc)
5  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
6  .catch(err => console.error(err));

Or decode the image url directly from an url, with an img element in page (notice no src attribute is set for img element):

1<img
2  id="img-to-decode"
3  width="200"
4  height="300"
5  style="border: 1px solid gray"
6/>

1const imgSrc = 'url to image';
2const imgDomId = 'img-to-decode';
3
4codeReader
5  .decodeFromImage(imgDomId, imgSrc)
6  .then(result => console.log(result.text))
7  .catch(err => console.error(err));

Barcode generation

To generate a QR Code SVG image include 'zxing.qrcodewriter.min.js' from build/vanillajs. You will need to include an element where the SVG element will be appended:

1<div id="result"></div>

And then:

1const codeWriter = new ZXing.BrowserQRCodeSvgWriter();
2// you can get a SVG element.
3const svgElement = codeWriter.write(input, 300, 300);
4// or render it directly to DOM.
5codeWriter.writeToDom('#result', input, 300, 300);

Contributing

See Contributing Guide for information regarding porting approach and reasoning behind some of the approaches taken.

Contributors

Special thanks to all the contributors who have contributed for this project. We heartly thankful to you all.

And a special thanks to @aleris who created the project itself and made available the initial QR code port.

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