Whooshly Research
Original data on how links and QR codes fail.
We run our own studies on short links, QR codes, and barcodes – real measurements with published methods, not recycled stats. Every number here is reproducible and sourced.
Short links
25% of 2,765 short links from 2014-2023 are already dead
We re-resolved 2,765 short links captured by Common Crawl from 2014 to 2023: 25% are dead in 2026, led by TinyURL (36%) and goo.gl (33%). Short links rot faster than you think.
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QR codes
8 of 15 popular QR generators can expire a free or trial code
We checked 15 QR code generators: 8 can give a free or trial user a code that later stops working. Static codes never expire; only dynamic ones can.
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QR codes
The ‘10:1 rule’ everyone repeats isn't in any QR standard
QR and barcode size guide from the standards: the 10:1 rule is a heuristic, the real floor is 2.5 pixels per module. Sizes in mm, plus a free calculator.
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