Final answer:
The main difference between a QR Code and a barcode is that a QR Code can store significantly more information than a barcode, which is limited to about 20-25 characters. QR Codes are two-dimensional and can contain much more complex information.
Step-by-step explanation:
One difference between a QR Code and a barcode is in their design and information capacity. A traditional barcode is typically a series of parallel lines that stores information in a one-dimensional format, which is generally limited to storing up to about 20-25 characters. In contrast, a QR Code is two-dimensional and can store significantly more information, sometimes several hundred times more than a standard barcode, including alphanumeric text, website URLs, or other data.
In practice, this means that while you might find a traditional barcode on a product that links to a specific price or inventory number, a QR Code can contain a more complex set of information, such as an entire business card worth of information or direct links to online content. The QR Code's capacity to hold more information enables various advanced applications, such as being able to instantly identify plants and animals in the wild with a handheld QR code scanner—a concept similar to that of the envisioned future of DNA barcoding.