Swiss QR Code Generator

What is a Swiss QR Code?

A Swiss QR Code is a standard QR Code that encodes data in the Swiss Payments Code (SPC) format — a structured text payload defined by SIX, the operator of Switzerland's payment infrastructure. It is the barcode printed on the QR-bill, the payment slip that replaced Switzerland's old red-and-orange payment slips in 2020. Scanning it with a Swiss banking app pre-fills a payment with the creditor's account, the exact amount, and a reference number, so the payer doesn't retype anything.

Technically, the Swiss QR Code is not a separate symbology — it's a standard QR Code (Model 2, error correction level M) with a specific text structure inside it, similar to how a vCard QR Code is a QR Code carrying vCard-formatted text. What makes it work with Swiss banking apps is strict adherence to the SPC data format.

How the SPC payload is structured

The SPC format is a sequence of newline-separated fields in a fixed order, including:

• Header — the literal string "SPC", a version number, and coding type.
• Creditor information — an IBAN or QR-IBAN (a special IBAN format reserved for QR-bills), plus the creditor's name and address in structured or combined address format.
• Ultimate creditor — optional, usually left blank.
• Payment amount and currency — CHF or EUR, or left blank for the payer to fill in.
• Ultimate debtor — the payer's name and address, optional.
• Reference type and reference number — QRR (QR reference, used with a QR-IBAN), SCOR (creditor reference / ISO 11649), or NON (no reference).
• Unstructured message and trailer — free text and the "EPD" end marker.

Every field position and length matters; a Swiss QR Code with a malformed SPC payload will either fail validation in the receiving bank's app or simply not populate the payment fields correctly.

Technical specifications

A Swiss QR Code is a standard ISO/IEC 18004 QR Code, Model 2, always encoded at error correction level M (about 15% damage tolerance) and printed at a fixed size of 46 × 46 mm on the QR-bill payment part, per the Swiss Payments Code specification maintained by SIX Interbank Clearing. The payload is plain UTF-8 text (restricted to a defined Latin character subset) structured as newline-separated fields in a strict order and length, not a binary or compressed format. There is no independent check digit on the SPC text itself beyond the QR Code's own Reed–Solomon error correction — validity is enforced by field-by-field parsing rules (IBAN/QR-IBAN checksum, reference number check digit for QRR references) applied by the receiving bank's software rather than by the barcode layer.

Where Swiss QR Codes are used

The Swiss QR Code appears on every QR-bill issued in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, including:

• Utility, telecom and insurance invoices sent to consumers.
• Business-to-business invoices that use the QR-bill format instead of traditional payment slips.
• Rent and subscription invoices from Swiss landlords and service providers.
• Donation slips issued by Swiss charities, where the QR Code pre-fills the donation amount and reference.

Any Swiss bank's mobile app, and most Swiss e-banking portals, can scan or import a Swiss QR Code to initiate the payment — this cross-bank interoperability is the entire point of the SPC standard.

How to generate a Swiss QR Code in Barcode Mint

To build a valid Swiss QR Code:

• Select Swiss QR Code from the barcode type list to enable the SPC-aware content builder.
• Enter the creditor's IBAN or QR-IBAN, creditor name and address, payment amount and currency, and the reference number and type (QRR, SCOR, or none).
• Add an optional unstructured message if the invoice needs a free-text note alongside the structured reference.
• Barcode Mint assembles these fields into the exact SPC text structure and encodes it as a QR Code at error correction level M, matching the Swiss QR-bill specification.
• Set the export size to match the QR-bill layout — Swiss QR-bills specify a fixed printed size (46 × 46 mm) for the QR Code on the payment part — and export as SVG for crisp placement in invoice PDFs, or PNG for quick previews.
• Use Bulk CSV → ZIP/PDF to generate a unique Swiss QR Code per invoice row when billing multiple customers, pulling IBAN, amount and reference from your billing system's export.
• Or call the REST API at /barcode?type=swissqrcode&data=... to generate QR-bills programmatically from your invoicing pipeline.

Before sending invoices to customers, validate a sample QR-bill against SIX's official QR-bill validation tool to confirm the SPC payload parses correctly in real banking apps.

Print and scan best practices

Swiss QR-bill specifications are strict about size and placement: the QR Code must print at exactly 46 × 46 mm with a defined quiet zone, and the Swiss cross must appear in its center exactly as specified — do not substitute a generic logo. Print in pure black on a white background for reliable scanning by banking apps, and always test the finished invoice with at least one major Swiss bank's app before a full production run, since app-side parsing can be stricter than the QR Code decodes cleanly. Common failure points include truncated addresses, an IBAN that doesn't match the reference type (using QRR reference with a non-QR-IBAN, for example), and shrinking the code below its fixed 46 × 46 mm size to fit a crowded invoice layout.

Swiss QR Code vs related payment codes

A Swiss QR Code is closely related in spirit to the EPC QR Code (Girocode) used across the eurozone — both are standard QR Codes carrying structured payment-initiation text — but they are not interchangeable: EPC069-12 is built for SEPA euro transfers, while SPC handles Swiss franc and euro payments through Switzerland's own IBAN/QR-IBAN and reference-number scheme, and a Swiss banking app will not parse an EPC payload or vice versa. Compared with a ZATCA QR Code, which encodes binary TLV invoice data for tax compliance rather than initiating a transfer, the Swiss QR Code's plain-text field structure is easier to inspect manually but serves a different purpose — payment execution versus invoice verification.

Common uses

• Swiss QR-bill invoices for utilities, telecom and insurance
• Business-to-business invoicing under the Swiss QR-bill standard
• Rent and subscription billing for Swiss landlords and providers
• Charity donation slips with pre-filled amount and reference
• Cross-bank Swiss payment initiation via mobile banking apps

Frequently asked questions

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