A free image to text converter that reads the text in screenshots, photos and scans, in your browser, with nothing uploaded.
Drop a picture, or paste a screenshot with Cmd+V, and get its text to copy. It all happens in this browser.
Your files
Language
Read the text
Add a file to read.
Everything happens in this browser, so your files never leave your computer. The pages of a searchable PDF look exactly as they did, with the text laid under them.
This free image to text converter reads the text in any picture, in your browser: a screenshot, a photo of a page, a scan. Copy it, or save it as a TXT file.
Paste a screenshot straight in with Cmd+V. Dark mode screenshots work too, and nothing is uploaded.
Here's how it reads screenshots and photos, and what it can't read.
TL;DRKey takeaways
What is an image to text converter?
An image to text converter reads the letters in a picture and gives them back as text you can copy, edit and search.
It's called OCR, optical character recognition. Phones do it in their camera apps, and this does it for any picture, in your browser.
Screenshots, light and dark
A screenshot is the easiest picture to read: sharp, straight and evenly lit. In my test, 4 screenshots of text came back 99% right, light and dark mode alike.
A dark screenshot is flipped to dark text on light before it's read, which is what the reader expects.
Photos of pages
A phone photo of a page has shadows, a tilt and blur. The tool evens out the light first, and enlarges a small picture:
- Read as they are
- 92%
- After the clean-up
- 94%
- Read as they are
- 34%
- After the clean-up
- 65%
For the best result, photograph the page flat, in even light, filling the frame.
19 languages
Pick the language your text is in: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, simplified, Chinese, traditional, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or Indonesian.
Each one is downloaded once, 1 to 3 MB, the first time you pick it. Your browser keeps it after that.
Nothing is uploaded
Most online OCR tools send your file to their server. This one reads it in your browser, so contracts, IDs and medical letters never leave your computer.
The first time, the reader downloads, about 4 MB, plus your language. After that it starts at once.
What it can't read
Some pictures don't come out well:
- Handwriting – it reads printed text. Neat block capitals sometimes work.
- Text in a busy photo – a sign on a street or text over a picture loses letters.
- Fancy fonts – script and decorative lettering are hard to read.
- Tiny text – enlarge or crop the picture so the letters are at least 20 pixels tall.
The confidence under each picture says how sure the reader was. Below 60%, check the text.
Who is the image to text converter for?
It's for anyone who needs the words in a picture:
- Website screenshot – people capturing pages to quote
- PDF OCR – anyone with a scanned PDF instead of pictures
- Image converter – people turning HEIC photos into JPGs first
- Speech to text – researchers turning audio into text too
Students, researchers and support teams use it to quote a slide, a receipt or an error message.
More free PDF and text tools
Here are my other tools for scans and documents:
- PDF OCR – scanned PDFs made searchable
- PDF to Markdown – a PDF that already has text, as clean Markdown
- Compress PDF – a smaller PDF, same pages
- Merge PDF – several PDFs as one
- PDF to JPG – each page as a picture
They're all free, in your browser, with no watermark.
Use the text
Ask AI about it
Image to text converter FAQs
Questions about the image to text converter? Here's what to know.
An image to text converter reads the letters in a picture and gives them back as text.
It's called OCR, optical character recognition.
Paste the screenshot here with Cmd+V, and click Read the text.
Then click Copy text.
Yes, a photo of a page works well when it's flat, sharp and evenly lit.
The tool evens out shadows before it reads.
Not well, since it's made for printed text.
Neat block capitals sometimes work.
19, including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.
Pick the one your text is in.
Yes, the image to text converter is free, with no account, no watermark and no page limit.
It runs in your browser, so it costs nothing to run.
No, the image to text converter reads your files in your browser.
They never leave your computer.
I did.
I'm Navid Moazzez, and the image to text converter is one of my free tools on navid.me.
Read more about me.
Navid Moazzez
AI business strategist & AI OS builder
Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.
Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
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