Image to Text Converter Online Free
Extract text from photos, scans, and screenshots in seconds with on-device OCR. Free in 18 languages with no uploads and no daily limits.
How to convert an image to text
Add your images
Drop images on the page, click Choose images, or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac). You can add up to 50 at once.
Check the language
The language of this page is picked for you. Choose another in the language menu, or pick up to 3 for mixed text. Reading starts right away.
Copy or download
Fix anything in the text box, then copy the text or save it as a .txt file. With several images, download everything as one file or as a ZIP.
Key features
18 languages
Up to 50 images at once
- 100% private
- JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC
- Free, no sign-up
What people use image to text for
Work
- Copy text from a scanned letter or contract
- Grab the details from a photo of an invoice or receipt
- Reuse text from slides that were shared as images
- Pull contact details from a photo of a business card
School and study
- Turn book pages into notes you can search
- Copy quotes from a printed article
- Get the text out of lecture slides
- Save printed handouts as text files
Everyday
- Copy text from a screenshot of a chat or web page
- Save a recipe from a photo of a cookbook
- Copy the words on a sign, then paste them into a translator
- Get the text from a meme or social media image
What is OCR?
OCR (optical character recognition) is technology that reads the letters in a picture and turns them into text you can edit. This image to text converter uses OCR to find each line in a photo, scan or screenshot and give it back as plain text.
Extract text from JPG, PNG, photos and screenshots
Turn any picture into text, from a phone photo to a saved screenshot. The converter reads all common image types, including HEIC files from an iPhone.
- JPG and PNG: photos, scans and saved images
- WebP and AVIF: images saved from websites
- HEIC and HEIF: iPhone photos, with no need to convert them first
- GIF, BMP and TIFF: older formats and scanner files (for a GIF, the first frame is read)
Your images never leave your device
Photos and scans often show private details, like addresses, account numbers or signatures. With this converter, your images stay on your phone or computer while the text is read.
- Private. Read letters, contracts and bank statements without sharing them with anyone.
- No account and no captcha. Open the page and start.
- No daily limit. Read as many images as you like, up to 50 at a time.
The first time you use it, your browser downloads the text reader: about 4 MB for English. After that, it's saved in your browser and starts faster.
Keep line breaks or join them into paragraphs
Text in an image is broken into short lines. Turn on Join lines into paragraphs to put wrapped sentences back together, so the text pastes cleanly into a document or email.
Headings and list items stay on their own lines. Words split with a hyphen at the end of a line are joined again. Turn the option off to keep every line break from the image.
Tips for the best results
Clear, printed text gives the most accurate results. These steps help:
- Pick the right language. German text read as English loses its umlauts, for example.
- Select just the text you need. Drag a box on the image to skip logos, photos and backgrounds.
- Rotate sideways photos with the rotate buttons.
- Use a sharp photo taken in good light, with the phone held straight above the page.
- Check names, numbers and email addresses. They are the easiest to misread.
OCR has limits. Handwriting, blurry photos and fancy fonts often come out with mistakes, so read the text through before you use it.
Want to keep your scans as a document instead of text? Combine the images into one file with Image to PDF.
Related tools
More free tools for images and documents
Frequently asked questions
Accuracy, languages, limits and privacy
How do I convert an image to text for free?
Add your image to the box at the top of this page, and the text appears a few seconds later. Then copy it or download it as a .txt file. It's free, with no sign-up and no daily limit.
Are my images uploaded to a server?
No. Your images stay on your phone or computer, and the text is read right there. The only download is the text reader itself, the first time you use the tool.
How accurate is image to text conversion?
On clear printed text and screenshots it's very accurate. In our tests, a photo of a printed page came back with only two small punctuation mistakes. Blurry photos, low light, handwriting and fancy fonts cause more errors, so always check names and numbers.
Can I extract text from a screenshot?
Yes. Screenshots are among the easiest images to read, including dark mode ones. Take the screenshot, then press Ctrl+V on this page (Cmd+V on a Mac) to paste it straight in.
Can it read handwriting?
Only a little. The tool is built for printed text. Neat block capitals may partly work, but joined-up handwriting usually comes out wrong.
Can I convert several images at once?
Yes, up to 50 images at a time. They're read one after another. Then copy all the text, download it as one .txt file, or get a ZIP with one text file per image.
Can I copy the text or save it as a file?
Yes. Copy text puts it on your clipboard, and Download .txt saves it as a file. You can edit the text in the box first; your edits are what gets copied or saved.
Is there a size limit or a daily limit?
There's no daily limit. Each image can be up to 50 MB, and you can add 50 images at a time. Very large photos are scaled down before reading, so they don't slow your device down.
Can I extract text from a PDF?
Yes, with PDF to Text. It reads the text a PDF already holds, and reads scanned pages with the same OCR as this tool. This page reads images only.
Which languages can it read?
It reads 18 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi and Russian. Pick up to 3 at once for mixed text. Each language downloads once and is under 3 MB.