How to Turn an Image into Text with Free OCR
·3 min read
OCR (optical character recognition) converts a picture of text into text you can copy and edit. You can do it free, in your browser, without uploading anything.
Extract text from an image
Open Image to Text (OCR), upload a screenshot or photo, pick the language, and click Extract text. It works in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, and more.
Getting the best results
- Use a sharp, well-lit image — blurry photos reduce accuracy.
- Straighten and crop to just the text with the Image Cropper.
- Pick the right language so characters are recognized correctly.
Working with PDFs instead?
If your text is in a PDF (not a scan), skip OCR and use Extract Text from PDF — it pulls the real text layer instantly. For scanned PDFs, export a page as an image first with PDF to JPG, then run OCR.
Private by design
The OCR engine runs on your device, so your images and documents never leave your browser.