diff --git a/core/src/com/google/zxing/EncodeHintType.java b/core/src/com/google/zxing/EncodeHintType.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8074c2ff7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/com/google/zxing/EncodeHintType.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ZXing authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.zxing;
+
+/**
+ * These are a set of hints that you may pass to Writers to specify their behavior.
+ *
+ * @author dswitkin@google.com (Daniel Switkin)
+ */
+public final class EncodeHintType {
+
+  /**
+   * Specifies what degree of error correction to use, for example in QR Codes (type Integer).
+   */
+  public static final EncodeHintType ERROR_CORRECTION = new EncodeHintType();
+
+  private EncodeHintType() {
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriter.java b/core/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriter.java
index 15211979d..2446b30c7 100644
--- a/core/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriter.java
+++ b/core/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriter.java
@@ -17,10 +17,11 @@
 package com.google.zxing.qrcode;
 
 import com.google.zxing.BarcodeFormat;
+import com.google.zxing.EncodeHintType;
 import com.google.zxing.Writer;
 import com.google.zxing.WriterException;
-import com.google.zxing.common.ByteMatrix;
 import com.google.zxing.common.ByteArray;
+import com.google.zxing.common.ByteMatrix;
 import com.google.zxing.qrcode.encoder.Encoder;
 import com.google.zxing.qrcode.encoder.QRCode;
 
@@ -57,8 +58,14 @@ public final class QRCodeWriter implements Writer {
           height);
     }
 
-    // TODO: Check hints for error correction level instead of hardcoding
     int errorCorrectionLevel = QRCode.EC_LEVEL_L;
+    if (hints != null) {
+      Integer requestedECLevel = (Integer) hints.get(EncodeHintType.ERROR_CORRECTION);
+      if (requestedECLevel != null) {
+        errorCorrectionLevel = requestedECLevel.intValue();
+      }
+    }
+
     QRCode code = new QRCode();
     Encoder.Encode(new ByteArray(contents), errorCorrectionLevel, code);
     return renderResult(code, width, height);
diff --git a/core/test/data/qrcode_encode/renderer-test-01.png b/core/test/data/golden/qrcode/renderer-test-01.png
similarity index 100%
rename from core/test/data/qrcode_encode/renderer-test-01.png
rename to core/test/data/golden/qrcode/renderer-test-01.png
diff --git a/core/test/data/qrcode_encode/renderer-test-02.png b/core/test/data/golden/qrcode/renderer-test-02.png
similarity index 100%
rename from core/test/data/qrcode_encode/renderer-test-02.png
rename to core/test/data/golden/qrcode/renderer-test-02.png
diff --git a/core/test/data/qrcode_encode/renderer-test-03.png b/core/test/data/golden/qrcode/renderer-test-03.png
similarity index 100%
rename from core/test/data/qrcode_encode/renderer-test-03.png
rename to core/test/data/golden/qrcode/renderer-test-03.png
diff --git a/core/test/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriterTestCase.java b/core/test/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriterTestCase.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eec335713
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/test/src/com/google/zxing/qrcode/QRCodeWriterTestCase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ZXing authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.zxing.qrcode;
+
+import com.google.zxing.BarcodeFormat;
+import com.google.zxing.EncodeHintType;
+import com.google.zxing.WriterException;
+import com.google.zxing.common.ByteMatrix;
+import com.google.zxing.qrcode.encoder.QRCode;
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
+import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Hashtable;
+
+/**
+ * @author satorux@google.com (Satoru Takabayashi) - creator
+ * @author dswitkin@google.com (Daniel Switkin) - ported and expanded from C++
+ */
+public final class QRCodeWriterTestCase extends TestCase {
+
+  private static final String BASE_IMAGE_PATH = "test/data/golden/qrcode/";
+
+  private static BufferedImage loadImage(String fileName) {
+    try {
+      File file = new File(BASE_IMAGE_PATH + fileName);
+      assertTrue("Please run from the 'core' directory", file.exists());
+      return ImageIO.read(file);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // In case the golden images are not monochromatic, convert the RGB values to greyscale.
+  private static ByteMatrix createMatrixFromImage(BufferedImage image) {
+    int width = image.getWidth();
+    int height = image.getHeight();
+    int[] pixels = new int[width * height];
+    image.getRGB(0, 0, width, height, pixels, 0, width);
+
+    ByteMatrix matrix = new ByteMatrix(height, width);
+    for (int y = 0; y < height; y++) {
+      for (int x = 0; x < width; x++) {
+        int pixel = pixels[y * width + x];
+        int luminance = (306 * ((pixel >> 16) & 0xFF) +
+            601 * ((pixel >> 8) & 0xFF) +
+            117 * (pixel & 0xFF)) >> 10;
+        matrix.set(y, x, luminance);
+      }
+    }
+    return matrix;
+  }
+
+  public void testQRCodeWriter() throws WriterException {
+    // The QR should be multiplied up to fit, with extra padding if necessary
+    final int bigEnough = 256;
+    QRCodeWriter writer = new QRCodeWriter();
+    ByteMatrix matrix = writer.encode("http://www.google.com/", BarcodeFormat.QR_CODE, bigEnough,
+        bigEnough, null);
+    assertTrue(matrix != null);
+    assertEquals(bigEnough, matrix.width());
+    assertEquals(bigEnough, matrix.height());
+
+    // The QR will not fit in this size, so the matrix should come back bigger
+    final int tooSmall = 20;
+    matrix = writer.encode("http://www.google.com/", BarcodeFormat.QR_CODE, tooSmall,
+        tooSmall, null);
+    assertTrue(matrix != null);
+    assertTrue(tooSmall < matrix.width());
+    assertTrue(tooSmall < matrix.height());
+
+    // We should also be able to handle non-square requests by padding them
+    final int strangeWidth = 500;
+    final int strangeHeight = 100;
+    matrix = writer.encode("http://www.google.com/", BarcodeFormat.QR_CODE, strangeWidth,
+        strangeHeight, null);
+    assertTrue(matrix != null);
+    assertEquals(strangeWidth, matrix.width());
+    assertEquals(strangeHeight, matrix.height());
+  }
+
+  private static boolean compareToGoldenFile(final String contents, final int ecLevel,
+      final int resolution, final String fileName) throws WriterException {
+
+    BufferedImage image = loadImage(fileName);
+    assertNotNull(image);
+    ByteMatrix goldenResult = createMatrixFromImage(image);
+    assertNotNull(goldenResult);
+
+    QRCodeWriter writer = new QRCodeWriter();
+    Hashtable hints = new Hashtable();
+    hints.put(EncodeHintType.ERROR_CORRECTION, new Integer(ecLevel));
+    ByteMatrix generatedResult = writer.encode(contents, BarcodeFormat.QR_CODE, resolution,
+        resolution, hints);
+
+    assertEquals("Width should be " + resolution + ", but was " + generatedResult.width(),
+        resolution, generatedResult.width());
+    assertEquals("Height should be " + resolution + ", but was " + generatedResult.height(),
+        resolution, generatedResult.height());
+    assertTrue("Expected " + goldenResult.toString() + " but got " + generatedResult.toString(),
+        Arrays.deepEquals(goldenResult.getArray(), generatedResult.getArray()));
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  // Golden images are generated with "qrcode_sample.cc". The images are checked with both eye balls
+  // and cell phones. We expect pixel-perfect results, because the error correction level is known,
+  // and the pixel dimensions matches exactly.
+  public void testRegressionTest() throws WriterException {
+    assertTrue(compareToGoldenFile("http://www.google.com/", QRCode.EC_LEVEL_M, 99,
+        "renderer-test-01.png"));
+
+    assertTrue(compareToGoldenFile("12345", QRCode.EC_LEVEL_L, 58, "renderer-test-02.png"));
+
+    // Test in Katakana in Shift_JIS.
+    final byte[] KATAKANA_INPUT = {
+        (byte)0x83, 0x65, (byte)0x83, 0x58, (byte)0x83, 0x67
+    };
+    assertTrue(compareToGoldenFile(new String(KATAKANA_INPUT), QRCode.EC_LEVEL_H, 145,
+        "renderer-test-03.png"));
+  }
+
+}