How to convert an image to text
Quick answer
Upload the JPG, PNG or WebP file to the OCR tool and it reads the text in the image, returning it as real text you can copy or download as a .txt file.
- 1Upload your image.
- 2Run Image to Text.
- 3Review the result.
- 4Copy or download it.
Free, no sign-up, and your file is read on your own device rather than uploaded.
Converting an image to text means recognising the letters and words that appear in a picture and producing them as an actual text document - something you can search, edit, translate or paste into another file, none of which is possible with the image alone.
This works for a scanned document photographed on a phone, a screenshot of an article, a picture of a printed page, or any other image where the content is fundamentally text, printed or typed rather than handwritten.
Step by step
Run Image to Text
Recognition happens in your browser, with a progress indicator while it works.
OCR Text ExtractorReview the extracted text
Shown alongside the original image so you can compare and check accuracy.
OCR Text Extractor
Tips
- A higher-resolution image generally converts more accurately than a small or heavily compressed one - if accuracy matters, use the largest clean version of the image you have.
- If you have several related images (pages of the same document, for instance), convert them one at a time - accuracy is easier to check per image than across a batch.
- For a scanned PDF rather than a loose image file, use PDF to Text or Scanned PDF to Searchable PDF instead, which handle multiple pages directly.
Common problems
Some words came out wrong or garbled.
Usually an image-quality issue - blur, low resolution, or heavy JPEG compression. Try a cleaner or higher-resolution version of the same image.
You actually have a multi-page scanned PDF, not a single image.
Use PDF to Text instead, which processes every page directly rather than needing each page exported as a separate image first.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between converting an image to text and just reading it myself?
- Converted text can be copied, searched, edited and reused elsewhere - a picture cannot, no matter how legible it is to a person reading it.
- Does this work for text in any language?
- English is supported now. Additional languages are planned once each has been tested for accuracy.
- Is my image uploaded anywhere?
- No. Everything happens in your browser, on your own device.
- Can I convert several images at once?
- Convert them one at a time currently - this keeps the result easy to check against each source image.
Related OCR tools
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Can't copy text from an image? Here's how to extract it
Upload the image to the OCR tool, and the text is read and returned as real, selectable text you can copy or download - typically within a few seconds.
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Need text from a screenshot? Extract it in your browser
Upload the screenshot to the OCR tool. Screenshots usually convert very accurately, since the text in them is typically crisp and high-contrast rather than photographed.
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How to extract text from a scanned PDF
Upload the scanned PDF to the OCR tool and choose PDF to Text. Each page is read in turn, and any page that already has real text is used directly rather than re-read - only pages that are genuinely scans get OCR.
Ready to do it?
Free, no sign-up, and nothing is uploaded to a server.