Free Image to Text Converter — OCR in your browser
Image to Text is a free online OCR (optical character recognition) tool that extracts editable, copyable text from a picture. Drop in a screenshot, photo, or scan, choose the language, and the tool reads the characters and returns plain text you can copy or download. Everything runs locally in your browser — your image is never uploaded to a server — so it is private, fast, and works even on sensitive documents.
Whether you are pulling a quote from a screenshot, digitising a receipt, copying code from a photo of a whiteboard, or turning a scanned page into editable text, this image-to-text converter saves you from retyping. It is the OCR tool for anyone who needs the words out of an image and into their clipboard.
What is OCR, and how does it work?
OCR — optical character recognition — is the technology that turns pictures of text into machine-readable characters. It analyses the shapes in an image, matches them against known letterforms for the selected language, and reconstructs words and lines. Modern OCR handles printed text well and can cope with many fonts, sizes, and layouts.
This tool runs the recognition engine directly in your browser using WebAssembly. When you start recognition it downloads the language model once, then processes the image on your own device. No pixels leave your machine, which is why it is safe to use on IDs, contracts, and other private material that you would not want to send to a cloud service.
How to extract text from an image
Drag an image into the dropzone or choose a file (PNG, JPG, WebP, or BMP up to 20 MB). Pick the main language visible in the image — this greatly improves accuracy — then click Recognize text. When it finishes, the extracted text appears in the result area, ready to copy or download as a TXT file.
For the best results, use a sharp, well-lit image where the text is roughly horizontal and clearly separated from the background. Higher resolution helps with small fonts. If a scan is skewed or noisy, straightening and cropping it before upload will noticeably improve recognition.
Where image-to-text OCR helps
Everyday productivity: copy text from a screenshot, grab a phone number from a photo, or pull an address off a business card. Study and research: turn photographed book pages, slides, or handwritten-style print into notes you can search and edit. Business: digitise receipts, invoices, and forms so the data can be entered or archived as text.
Developers and writers use it to lift code or quotes out of images, and accessibility workflows use OCR to make text in pictures available to screen readers. Anywhere words are trapped inside an image, this converter frees them into editable text.
Private, free, and offline-friendly
Unlike many online OCR services, this tool does not upload your image anywhere. Recognition happens in your browser, so confidential documents stay on your device. There is no signup, no watermark on the output, and no limit on how many images you process.
It loads quickly on mobile and desktop and respects dark mode. Pair it with our other free tools — word and character counter, case converter, and PDF utilities — to clean and reformat the text once you have extracted it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this image-to-text tool free? Yes — unlimited use, no signup. Is my image uploaded? No — recognition runs locally in your browser and the image never leaves your device. Which formats are supported? PNG, JPG, WebP, and BMP up to 20 MB. Which languages work? Choose the main language in the image; picking the correct one improves accuracy. Does it read handwriting? It is optimised for printed text; neat print works best, cursive handwriting is unreliable. Can I download the result? Yes — copy it or save it as a TXT file.