Standards/rmqr
rMQR
Overview
The Rectangular Micro QR Code (rMQR Code) is a matrix-type two-dimensional barcode developed by Denso Wave as a rectangular variant of the QR Code, intended for printing in long, narrow spaces where a conventional square QR Code or Micro QR Code would not fit 3 4. It retains the QR Code's positioning structure and Reed–Solomon error correction but trades the square aspect ratio for a flat, elongated footprint, making it suitable for cables, instruments, narrow labels, and small components 4. It was internationally standardised as ISO/IEC 23941:2022 1.
History
Denso Wave announced the rMQR Code on 25 May 2022 4. The company developed it in response to the spread of IoT and the manufacturing need for individual management of ultra-small electronic components, where limited margin space had previously prevented codes from being printed and so hampered information management 4. The same month, the symbology obtained ISO approval, becoming ISO/IEC 23941:2022 — "Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture techniques — Rectangular Micro QR Code (rMQR) bar code symbology specification" — enabling royalty-free worldwide use 1 3 4. ISO/IEC 23941:2022 specifies the rMQR symbology characteristics, encoding, symbol structure, dimensions, print-quality requirements, error correction, and decoding 1.
Technical specification
Module / symbol structure. rMQR reduces the QR Code's three large finder patterns to a single full finder pattern in the top-left corner plus a smaller finder sub-pattern in the bottom-right corner, which is what allows the rectangular, narrow shape 2 3. Denso Wave describes this as reducing the finder patterns "from three to one and a half" 3. The symbol also includes alignment patterns and timing patterns to detect distortion during reading 2 3.
Available sizes. rMQR defines 32 sizes (versions), identified from R7×43 to R17×139 2:
- Heights (vertical modules): 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 2
- Widths (horizontal modules): 27, 43, 59, 77, 99, 139 2
The smallest practical symbol stores a minimum of 12 digits in a 7-module-high by 43-module-wide form; the largest is R17×139 3.
Error correction. rMQR offers two Reed–Solomon error-correction levels — M (~15% recovery) and H (~30% recovery) — using the same Reed–Solomon scheme as standard QR Code 2.
Data capacity (maximum, R17×139). 2 4
- Numeric: 361 digits
- Alphanumeric: 219 characters
- Byte: 150 characters
- Kanji: 92 characters
The symbology supports Latin-1, Kanji (Shift-JIS), and GS1-formatted data 2 4.
Use cases
Denso Wave positions rMQR for part traceability in factories and supply chains, individual management of small electronic and IoT components, brand/design-sensitive products, and information management on slips and forms; specific examples cited include medical device and pharmaceutical labelling and manufacturing price tags 4. Its flat, elongated shape suits narrow or thin workpieces such as cables, instruments, and narrow labels where a square symbol cannot fit 3. Reported applications also include package tracking, retail goods identification, document processing, transit ticketing, and healthcare identification 2.
Implementations
- rmqrcode-python (OUDON) — Python; ~181 stars; active in 2026. A dedicated Rectangular Micro QR Code generator in Python 5.
- libqrean (kikuchan) — C; ~101 stars; active 2024. A portable QR and barcode generation/manipulation library that includes rMQR 6.
- qrqrpar (Nakanishi123) — Rust; ~21 stars; active 2025. A QR code generator supporting rMQR, written in Rust 7.
- Zint — C; ~771 stars; active in 2026. The general-purpose Zint library lists rMQR among its supported 2D symbologies 8.
Comparison
rMQR fills the gap between the standard square QR Code (large, square footprint, very high capacity) and Micro QR Code (small but limited capacity), offering both compact size and a larger capacity than Micro QR in a rectangular shape 3. Against 1D linear barcodes, rMQR stores far more data in a comparably narrow strip, making it a candidate replacement for 1D codes on cables and instruments where vertical space is scarce 4. Compared with the full QR Code, its capacity is much smaller — 361 numeric characters at most versus the QR Code's maximum of about 7,089 numeric characters 4. It uses only two error-correction levels (M and H) rather than QR Code's four (L, M, Q, H) 2.
Fun facts
- rMQR achieves its rectangular shape by cutting the QR Code's three finder patterns down to "one and a half" — a single full finder plus a small sub-pattern — which Denso Wave highlights as the key structural change 3.
- Within a year of release, rMQR had already attracted security-research attention: open repositories host thousands of deliberately malicious rMQR codes for penetration-testing red-team use 2.
Status
Active and current. rMQR is an international standard, ISO/IEC 23941:2022, and is royalty-free for worldwide use 1 3.
Sources
1 ISO/IEC 23941:2022 — Rectangular Micro QR Code (rMQR) bar code symbology specification — ISO, 2022 2 Rectangular Micro QR Code — Wikipedia, 2026 3 rMQR Code — QRcode.com / Denso Wave, 2022 4 DENSO WAVE Develops "rMQR Code" — Denso Wave, 2022 5 rmqrcode-python — OUDON / GitHub, 2026 6 libqrean — kikuchan / GitHub, 2024 7 qrqrpar — Nakanishi123 / GitHub, 2025 8 Zint barcode encoding library — Zint Project / GitHub, 2026
Deployments
No country reports mention this standard by name.
Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country
- Universal