Do you mean transferring an entire file by the QR code alone? Technically no. There isn't enough 'characters' in the qr code to encode a file.

However there is enough characters to give you the location (URL) of a file to download. So in that respect, yes. You wouldn't be able to get the file without having a data connection. In other words, you can't just get a file by scanning the code without wi-fi or 3g/4g.

I did find something interesting with a quick search. A video QR code that could transfer data on the fly. In essence this multiple QR codes - enough to make a small file:


This seems a bit roundabout, but I can see some cases where this would be useful or malicious.

Is data transfer possible through QR codes.