diff --git a/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator.cs b/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator.cs
index eec9c884..09b681aa 100644
--- a/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator.cs
+++ b/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator.cs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #if HAS_SPAN
 using System.Buffers;
 #endif
+using System;
 using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
+using System.Text;
 
 namespace QRCoder;
 
@@ -109,14 +111,39 @@ public static QRCodeData GenerateQrCode(PayloadGenerator.Payload payload, ECCLev
     public static QRCodeData GenerateQrCode(string plainText, ECCLevel eccLevel, bool forceUtf8 = false, bool utf8BOM = false, EciMode eciMode = EciMode.Default, int requestedVersion = -1)
     {
         eccLevel = ValidateECCLevel(eccLevel);
+        // Create data segment from plain text
+        var segment = CreateDataSegment(plainText, forceUtf8, utf8BOM, eciMode);
+        // Determine the appropriate version based on segment bit length
+        int version = DetermineVersion(segment, eccLevel, requestedVersion);
+        // Build the complete bit array for the determined version
+        var completeBitArray = BuildBitArrayFromSegment(segment, version);
+        return GenerateQrCode(completeBitArray, eccLevel, version);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Creates a data segment from plain text, encoding it appropriately.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static DataSegment CreateDataSegment(string plainText, bool forceUtf8, bool utf8BOM, EciMode eciMode)
+    {
         var encoding = GetEncodingFromPlaintext(plainText, forceUtf8);
         var codedText = PlainTextToBinary(plainText, encoding, eciMode, utf8BOM, forceUtf8);
         var dataInputLength = GetDataLength(encoding, plainText, codedText, forceUtf8);
-        int version = requestedVersion;
-        int minVersion = CapacityTables.CalculateMinimumVersion(dataInputLength + (eciMode != EciMode.Default ? 2 : 0), encoding, eccLevel);
-        if (version == -1)
+        return new DataSegment(encoding, dataInputLength, codedText, eciMode);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Determines the appropriate QR code version based on the data segment and error correction level.
+    /// Validates that the data fits within the requested version, or finds the minimum version if not specified.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static int DetermineVersion(DataSegment segment, ECCLevel eccLevel, int version)
+    {
+        if (!CapacityTables.TryCalculateMinimumVersion(segment, eccLevel, out var minVersion))
         {
-            version = minVersion;
+            return Throw(eccLevel, segment.EncodingMode, version == -1 ? 40 : version);
+        }
+        else if (version == -1)
+        {
+            return minVersion;
         }
         else
         {
@@ -124,19 +151,30 @@ public static QRCodeData GenerateQrCode(string plainText, ECCLevel eccLevel, boo
             if (minVersion > version)
             {
                 // Use a throw-helper to avoid allocating a closure
-                Throw(eccLevel, encoding, version);
-
-                static void Throw(ECCLevel eccLevel, EncodingMode encoding, int version)
-                {
-                    var maxSizeByte = CapacityTables.GetVersionInfo(version).Details.First(x => x.ErrorCorrectionLevel == eccLevel).CapacityDict[encoding];
-                    throw new Exceptions.DataTooLongException(eccLevel.ToString(), encoding.ToString(), version, maxSizeByte);
-                }
+                return Throw(eccLevel, segment.EncodingMode, version);
             }
+            return version;
         }
 
-        var modeIndicatorLength = eciMode != EciMode.Default ? 16 : 4;
-        var countIndicatorLength = GetCountIndicatorLength(version, encoding);
-        var completeBitArrayLength = modeIndicatorLength + countIndicatorLength + codedText.Length;
+        static int Throw(ECCLevel eccLevel, EncodingMode encoding, int version)
+        {
+            var maxSizeByte = CapacityTables.GetVersionInfo(version).Details.First(x => x.ErrorCorrectionLevel == eccLevel).CapacityDict[encoding];
+            throw new Exceptions.DataTooLongException(eccLevel.ToString(), encoding.ToString(), version, maxSizeByte);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Builds a complete BitArray from a data segment for a specific QR code version.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static BitArray BuildBitArrayFromSegment(DataSegment segment, int version)
+    {
+        // todo in subsequent PR: eliminate these local variables and directly access the struct
+        var eciMode = segment.EciMode;
+        var encoding = segment.EncodingMode;
+        int dataInputLength = segment.CharacterCount;
+        var codedText = segment.Data;
+        int completeBitArrayLength = segment.GetBitLength(version);
+        int countIndicatorLength = GetCountIndicatorLength(version, segment.EncodingMode);
 
         var completeBitArray = new BitArray(completeBitArrayLength);
 
@@ -156,7 +194,7 @@ static void Throw(ECCLevel eccLevel, EncodingMode encoding, int version)
             completeBitArray[completeBitArrayIndex++] = codedText[i];
         }
 
-        return GenerateQrCode(completeBitArray, eccLevel, version);
+        return completeBitArray;
     }
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -366,6 +404,7 @@ List<CodewordBlock> CalculateECCBlocks()
 
             void AddCodeWordBlocks(int blockNum, int blocksInGroup, int codewordsInGroup, int offset2, int count, Polynom generatorPolynom)
             {
+                _ = blockNum;
                 var groupLength = codewordsInGroup * 8;
                 groupLength = groupLength > count ? count : groupLength;
                 for (var i = 0; i < blocksInGroup; i++)
diff --git a/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/CapacityTables.cs b/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/CapacityTables.cs
index f4c6b94c..9146976e 100644
--- a/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/CapacityTables.cs
+++ b/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/CapacityTables.cs
@@ -116,6 +116,55 @@ static void Throw(EncodingMode encMode, ECCLevel eccLevel)
             }
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Attempts to determine the minimum QR code version required to encode a data segment with a specific error correction level.
+        /// This method accounts for the version-dependent size of mode and count indicators when calculating the total bit length.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="segment">The data segment to be encoded (includes encoding mode, character count, and data bits).</param>
+        /// <param name="eccLevel">The error correction level (e.g., Low, Medium, Quartile, High).</param>
+        /// <param name="version">When this method returns, contains the minimum version number (1-40) that can accommodate the data segment if a suitable version was found; otherwise, 0.</param>
+        /// <returns><see langword="true"/> if a suitable QR code version was found; otherwise, <see langword="false"/>.</returns>
+        public static bool TryCalculateMinimumVersion(DataSegment segment, ECCLevel eccLevel, out int version)
+        {
+            // Versions 1-9: Count indicator length is constant within this range
+            var segmentBitLength = segment.GetBitLength(1);
+            for (version = 1; version <= 9; version++)
+            {
+                var eccInfo = GetEccInfo(version, eccLevel);
+                // Check if this version has enough capacity for the segment's total bits
+                if (eccInfo.TotalDataBits >= segmentBitLength)
+                {
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Versions 10-26: Count indicator length is constant within this range
+            segmentBitLength = segment.GetBitLength(10);
+            for (version = 10; version <= 26; version++)
+            {
+                var eccInfo = GetEccInfo(version, eccLevel);
+                // Check if this version has enough capacity for the segment's total bits
+                if (eccInfo.TotalDataBits >= segmentBitLength)
+                {
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Versions 27-40: Count indicator length is constant within this range
+            segmentBitLength = segment.GetBitLength(27);
+            for (version = 27; version <= 40; version++)
+            {
+                var eccInfo = GetEccInfo(version, eccLevel);
+                // Check if this version has enough capacity for the segment's total bits
+                if (eccInfo.TotalDataBits >= segmentBitLength)
+                {
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
+
+            version = 0;
+            return false;
+        }
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Determines the minimum Micro QR code version required to encode a given amount of data with a specific encoding mode and error correction level.
diff --git a/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/DataSegment.cs b/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/DataSegment.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0769d26b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/QRCoder/QRCodeGenerator/DataSegment.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+namespace QRCoder;
+
+public partial class QRCodeGenerator
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Represents a data segment for QR code encoding, containing the encoding mode, character count, and encoded data.
+    /// </summary>
+    private readonly struct DataSegment
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The encoding mode for this segment (Numeric, Alphanumeric, Byte, etc.)
+        /// </summary>
+        public readonly EncodingMode EncodingMode;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The character count (or byte count for byte mode)
+        /// </summary>
+        public readonly int CharacterCount;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The encoded data as a BitArray
+        /// </summary>
+        public readonly BitArray Data;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Whether this segment includes an ECI mode indicator
+        /// </summary>
+        public bool HasEciMode => EciMode != EciMode.Default;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The ECI mode value (only valid if HasEciMode is true)
+        /// </summary>
+        public readonly EciMode EciMode;
+
+        public DataSegment(EncodingMode encodingMode, int characterCount, BitArray data, EciMode eciMode)
+        {
+            EncodingMode = encodingMode;
+            CharacterCount = characterCount;
+            Data = data;
+            EciMode = eciMode;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Calculates the total bit length for this segment when encoded for a specific QR code version.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="version">The QR code version (1-40, or -1 to -4 for Micro QR)</param>
+        /// <returns>The total number of bits required for this segment including mode indicator, count indicator, and data</returns>
+        public int GetBitLength(int version)
+        {
+            int modeIndicatorLength = HasEciMode ? 16 : 4;
+            int countIndicatorLength = GetCountIndicatorLength(version, EncodingMode);
+            return modeIndicatorLength + countIndicatorLength + Data.Length;
+        }
+    }
+}