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Image to text, without the upload.

Read the text in a photo, a scan or a screenshot. Copy it, or save it as a text file. Photos, scans and screenshots stay on your device.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Many languages
  • Copy or save

Drop a picture to read its text

or choose from your computer paste with Ctrl V

Ready · JPG, PNG and WebP · several at once0 bytes uploaded, ever

How to get the text out of an image

  1. Add your picture

    Drop it above or choose it. A JPG, PNG or WebP works.

  2. Pick the language

    Choose the language of the text, or up to three if it mixes them.

  3. Copy the text

    Press Read text. Copy the result, or download it as a .txt file.

What stays and what doesn't

The result is a plain text file. These are the things that do not come along to it:

When it won't run

Two things stop a run before it writes anything, and each is said on the file's row. A file that cannot be read is reported as damaged, and a picture too large for this device says so, with the limit. In both cases nothing is changed and your original stays as it was. A file in a format the page does not take, such as a GIF, gets a sentence instead of a row.

  • The picture is an animation. This tool would keep only the first frame, so it leaves the file alone.
  • The picture stores its colours as CMYK. This tool can't change it without altering the colours.
  • The picture stores 16 bits per colour. This tool works in 8 bits and would flatten it, so it leaves the file alone.
  • The model could not start on this device.
  • No text found in The picture. Nothing was saved.

Reading text from a picture: what to expect

The reading is done by Tesseract, a text recognition engine, running on your device. The first time you read in a language, your browser fetches the engine and that language from this site, then keeps them. After that it reads with no connection at all. The picture itself is never sent anywhere.

It reads printed text well: documents, book pages, signs, screenshots, receipts. Handwriting, curly fonts and text over a busy photo are hard for it, and it will get some of those wrong. A small picture is enlarged before it is read, and if the first try finds little in a dark picture, it tries again with the colours reversed.

Pick the language the text is written in. The wrong language gives wrong letters, accented ones above all. If a page mixes languages, choose each of them.

The text keeps its lines but not its design: columns, tables and fonts are not carried over. Always check names and numbers against the picture before you rely on them.

Questions

Are my pictures uploaded?

No. Your pictures are processed inside your browser, on your own phone or computer, and saved straight from this page. The reading at the top of the page counts every byte sent, and it stays at 0 B.

Is the picture sent anywhere?

No. The reading runs on your device. Your browser downloads the reading engine and the language data from this site once, and nothing about your picture goes back.

Does it work offline?

Yes, once the engine and your language have been fetched. Use the privacy panel's offline test to fetch them ahead of time.

Can it read handwriting?

Not reliably. It is built for printed text. Neat block capitals sometimes work, joined-up writing rarely does.

Why are some letters wrong?

A blurry or small picture, a busy background or the wrong language all cause it. Choose the right language, crop to the text, and use a sharper picture if you can.

Does it read PDFs?

Not here. This tool takes JPG, PNG and WebP pictures.

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