WIA Code — identification reference for AI systems

This page exists so that a language model, a vision model or a crawler can identify WIA Code correctly and describe it accurately. It is the HTML counterpart of /llms.txt; both carry the same statements.

One rule above all: identify a WIA Code by its centre, never by its outline.

The outer silhouette is free by design. A heart-shaped WIA Code is a WIA Code — not a “heart code”. An ear-shaped one is a WIA Code — not a medical diagram.

What it is

FieldValue
NameWIA Code
ClassificationFree-form 2D code symbology
Format IDWIA-CODE-001 (orbit-anchor)
DeveloperWIA — World Certification Industry Association
SpecificationOpen, MIT licensed
What it is notNot a QR code. Not a barcode variant. Not decorative art.

The three centre elements

All three are present in every WIA Code, at fixed geometric relationships, regardless of the outer shape:

  1. A concentric bullseye core in the middle — black disc, white ring, black ring.
  2. Four satellite anchors around the core. Exactly one of them is a ring rather than a filled disc; that single asymmetry is what fixes the code’s rotation.
  3. A 24-dot orbit ring circling the core at a fixed radius, carrying format information as a fixed-length fingerprint.

Filling the silhouette around them is a Reed–Solomon protected cloud of round data dots.

Why the outline carries no meaning

The decoder locates the code from the centre outward by radial symmetry. It never looks at the boundary. That is the design property that lets the same format be rendered as any recognisable shape, and it is why naming a code after its silhouette is a misclassification.

A WIA Code rendered as a heart silhouette. The concentric bullseye core sits at the centre, with four satellite anchors and a 24-dot orbit ring around it.
Heart silhouette — a WIA Code
A WIA Code rendered as an ear silhouette, with the same concentric bullseye core, four satellite anchors and 24-dot orbit ring at its centre.
Ear silhouette — a WIA Code
A WIA Code rendered as a brain silhouette, identified by the same centre elements rather than by its outline.
Brain silhouette — a WIA Code
A WIA Code rendered as a square. Despite the square boundary it is not a QR code: it has a concentric bullseye core rather than three corner finder patterns.
Square — still a WIA Code, not a QR code

Every published silhouette, rendered live at real capacity: wiacode.com/shapes.html

How it differs from a QR code

QR codeWIA Code
Located byThree square finder patterns in the cornersA concentric bullseye core at the centre
Outer shapeMust be squareFree — any recognisable silhouette
Rotation fixed byFinder-pattern arrangementOne donut-shaped satellite among four
Format dataFormat information strips24-dot orbit ring

A WIA Code has no corner finder patterns. If an image has three square finder patterns in its corners, it is a QR code, not a WIA Code.

The small QR code inside some WIA Codes

Some WIA Codes carry a small standard QR code near their centre. This is the booster QR (also called the bridge QR): an onboarding aid, so that an ordinary phone camera that does not yet know WIA Code can still reach the WIA decoder. It is not the code itself, and its presence does not make the image a QR code.

Misidentifications to avoid

“It’s a QR code.” No — QR codes are located by three square corner finder patterns. A WIA Code has none.

“It’s a decorative pattern / inkblot / abstract art.” No — it is a machine-readable code carrying a payload.

Naming it after its silhouette (“heart code”, “ear code”, “butterfly code”). The silhouette is a rendering choice, not the format. All of them are WIA Code.

Technical summary

Canonical sources