diff --git a/apps/web/app/api/qr/route.tsx b/apps/web/app/api/qr/route.tsx
index 60d9d771380..2e9bc088a6c 100644
--- a/apps/web/app/api/qr/route.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/app/api/qr/route.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import { handleAndReturnErrorResponse } from "@/lib/api/errors";
 import { ratelimitOrThrow } from "@/lib/api/utils";
 import { getShortLinkViaEdge, getWorkspaceViaEdge } from "@/lib/planetscale";
 import { getDomainViaEdge } from "@/lib/planetscale/get-domain-via-edge";
+import { getQRAsSVG } from "@/lib/qr/api";
+import { DEFAULT_BGCOLOR } from "@/lib/qr/constants";
 import { QRCodeSVG } from "@/lib/qr/utils";
 import { getQRCodeQuerySchema } from "@/lib/zod/schemas/qr";
 import { DUB_QR_LOGO, getSearchParams, isDubDomain } from "@dub/utils";
@@ -21,29 +23,53 @@ export async function GET(req: NextRequest) {
 
     await ratelimitOrThrow(req, "qr");
 
-    const { logo, url, size, level, fgColor, bgColor, margin, hideLogo } =
-      paramsParsed;
+    const {
+      logo,
+      url,
+      size,
+      level,
+      fgColor,
+      bgColor,
+      margin,
+      hideLogo,
+      format,
+    } = paramsParsed;
 
     const qrCodeLogo = await getQRCodeLogo({ url, logo, hideLogo });
 
+    const qrProps = {
+      value: url,
+      size,
+      level,
+      fgColor,
+      margin,
+      ...(qrCodeLogo
+        ? {
+            imageSettings: {
+              src: qrCodeLogo,
+              height: size / 4,
+              width: size / 4,
+              excavate: true,
+            },
+          }
+        : {}),
+    };
+
+    if (format === "svg") {
+      const svgString = await getQRAsSVG({
+        ...qrProps,
+        ...(bgColor ? { bgColor } : {}),
+      });
+      const headers = new Headers(CORS_HEADERS);
+      headers.set("Content-Type", "image/svg+xml");
+      headers.set("Content-Disposition", "inline; filename=qr.svg");
+      return new Response(svgString, { headers });
+    }
+
     return new ImageResponse(
       QRCodeSVG({
-        value: url,
-        size,
-        level,
-        fgColor,
-        bgColor,
-        margin,
-        ...(qrCodeLogo
-          ? {
-              imageSettings: {
-                src: qrCodeLogo,
-                height: size / 4,
-                width: size / 4,
-                excavate: true,
-              },
-            }
-          : {}),
+        ...qrProps,
+        bgColor: bgColor ?? DEFAULT_BGCOLOR,
         isOGContext: true,
       }),
       {
diff --git a/apps/web/lib/openapi/qr/index.ts b/apps/web/lib/openapi/qr/index.ts
index 30134c09911..65de0a016a5 100644
--- a/apps/web/lib/openapi/qr/index.ts
+++ b/apps/web/lib/openapi/qr/index.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ export const getQRCode: ZodOpenApiOperationObject = {
         "image/png": {
           schema: z.string(),
         },
+        "image/svg+xml": {
+          schema: z.string(),
+        },
       },
     },
     ...openApiErrorResponses,
diff --git a/apps/web/lib/qr/api.tsx b/apps/web/lib/qr/api.tsx
index 0d3312f182f..04f60c47419 100644
--- a/apps/web/lib/qr/api.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/lib/qr/api.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import qrcodegen from "./codegen";
 import {
-  DEFAULT_BGCOLOR,
   DEFAULT_FGCOLOR,
   DEFAULT_LEVEL,
   DEFAULT_MARGIN,
@@ -10,21 +9,25 @@ import {
 import { QRPropsSVG } from "./types";
 import { excavateModules, generatePath, getImageSettings } from "./utils";
 
-export async function getQRAsSVG(props: QRPropsSVG) {
+export async function getQRAsSVG(props: QRPropsSVG): Promise<string> {
   const {
     value,
     size = DEFAULT_SIZE,
     level = DEFAULT_LEVEL,
-    bgColor = DEFAULT_BGCOLOR,
+    bgColor,
     fgColor = DEFAULT_FGCOLOR,
     margin = DEFAULT_MARGIN,
     imageSettings,
-    ...otherProps
   } = props;
 
+  const shouldUseHigherErrorLevel =
+    imageSettings?.excavate && (level === "L" || level === "M");
+
+  const effectiveLevel = shouldUseHigherErrorLevel ? "Q" : level;
+
   let cells = qrcodegen.QrCode.encodeText(
     value,
-    ERROR_LEVEL_MAP[level],
+    ERROR_LEVEL_MAP[effectiveLevel],
   ).getModules();
 
   const numCells = cells.length + margin * 2;
@@ -35,51 +38,49 @@ export async function getQRAsSVG(props: QRPropsSVG) {
     imageSettings,
   );
 
-  let image = <></>;
+  let image = "";
   if (imageSettings != null && calculatedImageSettings != null) {
-    if (calculatedImageSettings.excavation != null) {
-      cells = excavateModules(cells, calculatedImageSettings.excavation);
-    }
+    try {
+      const base64Image = await fetch(
+        `https://wsrv.nl/?url=${encodeURIComponent(imageSettings.src)}&w=100&h=100&encoding=base64`,
+        { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5_000) },
+      ).then((res) => {
+        if (!res.ok) {
+          throw new Error(`Failed to fetch logo: ${res.status}`);
+        }
+        return res.text();
+      });
 
-    const base64Image = await fetch(
-      `https://wsrv.nl/?url=${imageSettings.src}&w=100&h=100&encoding=base64`,
-    ).then((res) => res.text());
+      if (calculatedImageSettings.excavation != null) {
+        cells = excavateModules(cells, calculatedImageSettings.excavation);
+      }
 
-    image = (
-      <image
-        href={base64Image}
-        height={calculatedImageSettings.h}
-        width={calculatedImageSettings.w}
-        x={calculatedImageSettings.x + margin}
-        y={calculatedImageSettings.y + margin}
-        preserveAspectRatio="none"
-      />
-    );
+      image = [
+        `<image href="${base64Image}"`,
+        `height="${calculatedImageSettings.h}"`,
+        `width="${calculatedImageSettings.w}"`,
+        `x="${calculatedImageSettings.x + margin}"`,
+        `y="${calculatedImageSettings.y + margin}"`,
+        'preserveAspectRatio="none"></image>',
+      ].join(" ");
+    } catch {
+      // Omit logo if embedding fails; still return a valid QR SVG.
+    }
   }
 
   // Drawing strategy: instead of a rect per module, we're going to create a
-  // single path for the dark modules and layer that on top of a light rect,
-  // for a total of 2 DOM nodes. We pay a bit more in string concat but that's
-  // way faster than DOM ops.
-  // For level 1, 441 nodes -> 2
-  // For level 40, 31329 -> 2
+  // single path for the dark modules. Background is only painted when bgColor
+  // is set — otherwise the SVG stays transparent.
   const fgPath = generatePath(cells, margin);
+  const bgPath = bgColor
+    ? `<path fill="${bgColor}" d="M0,0 h${numCells}v${numCells}H0z" shape-rendering="crispEdges"></path>`
+    : "";
 
-  return (
-    <svg
-      height={size}
-      width={size}
-      viewBox={`0 0 ${numCells} ${numCells}`}
-      xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
-      {...otherProps}
-    >
-      <path
-        fill={bgColor}
-        d={`M0,0 h${numCells}v${numCells}H0z`}
-        shapeRendering="crispEdges"
-      />
-      <path fill={fgColor} d={fgPath} shapeRendering="crispEdges" />
-      {image}
-    </svg>
-  );
+  return [
+    `<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="${size}" width="${size}" viewBox="0 0 ${numCells} ${numCells}">`,
+    bgPath,
+    `<path fill="${fgColor}" d="${fgPath}" shape-rendering="crispEdges"></path>`,
+    image,
+    "</svg>",
+  ].join("");
 }
diff --git a/apps/web/lib/qr/index.tsx b/apps/web/lib/qr/index.tsx
index 9b753ed749f..e2c3af9680a 100644
--- a/apps/web/lib/qr/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/lib/qr/index.tsx
@@ -386,9 +386,9 @@ export async function getQRAsSVGDataUri(props: QRProps) {
     )
     .join("");
 
+  // Omit the background fill so downloaded SVGs have a transparent background.
   const svgData = [
     `<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="${size}" width="${size}" viewBox="0 0 ${numCells} ${numCells}">`,
-    `<path fill="${bgColor}" d="M0,0 h${numCells}v${numCells}H0z" shape-rendering="crispEdges"></path>`,
     `<path fill="${fgColor}" d="${fgPath}" shape-rendering="crispEdges"></path>`,
     finderSVG,
     image,
diff --git a/apps/web/lib/zod/schemas/qr.ts b/apps/web/lib/zod/schemas/qr.ts
index 1e8180080dc..7f21827cd1d 100644
--- a/apps/web/lib/zod/schemas/qr.ts
+++ b/apps/web/lib/zod/schemas/qr.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,4 @@
-import {
-  DEFAULT_BGCOLOR,
-  DEFAULT_FGCOLOR,
-  DEFAULT_MARGIN,
-  QR_LEVELS,
-} from "@/lib/qr/constants";
+import { DEFAULT_FGCOLOR, DEFAULT_MARGIN, QR_LEVELS } from "@/lib/qr/constants";
 import * as z from "zod/v4";
 import { booleanQuerySchema } from "./misc";
 import { parseUrlSchema } from "./utils";
@@ -40,9 +35,8 @@ export const getQRCodeQuerySchema = z.object({
   bgColor: z
     .string()
     .optional()
-    .default(DEFAULT_BGCOLOR)
     .describe(
-      "The background color of the QR code in hex format. Defaults to `#ffffff` if not provided.",
+      "The background color of the QR code in hex format. Defaults to `#ffffff` for `png`. When omitted for `svg`, the background is transparent.",
     ),
   hideLogo: booleanQuerySchema
     .optional()
@@ -64,4 +58,9 @@ export const getQRCodeQuerySchema = z.object({
       "DEPRECATED: Margin is included by default. Use the `margin` prop to customize the margin size.",
     )
     .meta({ deprecated: true }),
+  format: z
+    .enum(["png", "svg"])
+    .optional()
+    .default("png")
+    .describe("The format of the QR code. Defaults to `png` if not provided."),
 });