📄 OCR - Extract Text from Images
Upload an image and extract text using Tesseract.js OCR. Supports 10 languages. Runs entirely in your browser.
Free Online OCR - Extract Text from Any Image
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) converts text within images into machine-readable text that you can select, copy, edit, and search. This tool uses Tesseract.js, the leading open-source OCR engine compiled for the browser, to perform text extraction entirely on your device. No images are uploaded to any server, and no account is required.
What is OCR?
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is a technology that analyzes the shapes and patterns of characters in an image and converts them into editable, searchable text. OCR has been used for decades in document scanning, mail sorting, and automated data entry. Modern OCR engines like Tesseract use machine learning models trained on millions of text samples to achieve high accuracy across a wide range of fonts, sizes, and languages. Whether you have a photo of a receipt, a screenshot of a web page, a scanned document, or a picture of a whiteboard, OCR can pull the text out for you in seconds.
This free OCR tool runs Tesseract.js v5 directly in your browser using WebAssembly. The language model data is downloaded from a CDN the first time you select a language, and all recognition happens locally on your machine. Your images never leave your device, making this tool safe for sensitive or private documents. The tool supports ten languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese, and Italian.
How to Use This Tool
- Select the language of the text in your image from the language dropdown. English is selected by default.
- Upload your image by dragging and dropping it onto the upload area, clicking to browse for a file, or pasting an image from your clipboard using Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac).
- Click the "Extract Text" button to start the OCR process. A progress bar will show the current status as the engine loads the language model and processes the image.
- Once complete, the extracted text appears in the output area along with a confidence score, word count, and character count. Click "Copy to Clipboard" to copy the text.
Key Features
- 10 Languages Supported - Recognize text in English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese, and Italian with dedicated trained models.
- Multiple Upload Methods - Drag and drop files, click to browse, or paste images directly from your clipboard. Works with PNG, JPG, BMP, WEBP, and GIF formats.
- Confidence Score - After extraction, see how confident the OCR engine is in its results. Higher scores indicate more reliable output.
- Real-Time Progress - A progress bar with status messages keeps you informed as the engine loads language data and processes your image.
- Privacy First - All processing runs in your browser using WebAssembly. No images or text are sent to any external server.
Frequently Asked Questions
What image formats are supported?
This tool accepts any image format that your browser can display, including PNG, JPEG, JPG, BMP, WEBP, and GIF. For the best OCR results, use a high-resolution image with clear, well-lit text and good contrast between the text and the background.
How accurate is the text extraction?
Accuracy depends on several factors: image quality, font clarity, text size, contrast, and the language being recognized. Clean, high-resolution images with printed text typically achieve 90% or higher confidence. Handwritten text, low-resolution photos, skewed angles, and unusual fonts will reduce accuracy. The confidence score displayed after extraction gives you a quick measure of the result quality.
Does this tool work offline?
The first time you use a language, the tool downloads the trained language model from a CDN (typically 1 to 15 MB depending on the language). After the initial download, the model may be cached by your browser. The OCR processing itself runs entirely on your device, but an internet connection is needed for the initial model download.
Can I extract text from PDFs with this tool?
This tool is designed for image files. If you have a PDF, you can take a screenshot of the page you want to process, then paste or upload that screenshot here. For multi-page PDFs, you would need to process each page as a separate image. If your PDF already contains selectable text, you can usually copy it directly without OCR.
Is my data safe?
Yes. This tool processes everything in your browser using Tesseract.js, a WebAssembly build of the Tesseract OCR engine. Your images and extracted text never leave your device. No data is stored, logged, or transmitted to any server. This makes it suitable for sensitive documents, personal records, and confidential information.