In a method, an electronic device obtains to-be-encoded text, where the to-be-encoded text includes N characters; the electronic device determines a target coding mode for each of the N characters from X optional coding modes; the electronic device groups the N characters into M character fields based on the target coding mode for each character, and determines a target coding mode for each of the M character fields, where M is less than or equal to N; the electronic device encodes the M character fields based on the target coding mode for each character field to obtain a first binary character string; and the electronic device generates, based on the first binary character string, a two-dimensional code of a version corresponding to a length of the first binary character string.