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Click or drop an image here
Photos, screenshots and scans of printed text
Quick answer: To convert an image to text free, drop a photo, screenshot or scan below, pick the language, and click Extract text. The OCR engine runs in your browser – copy the result or download it as a .txt file. English, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi and more are supported.
Retyping text from a photo of a book page, a WhatsApp screenshot of a notice, or a scanned form is slow, error-prone work. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) does it in seconds – and thanks to the open-source Tesseract engine compiled to WebAssembly, it now runs entirely in your browser.
That local processing matters more for OCR than almost any other tool: the images people OCR are usually documents – CNICs, certificates, contracts, mark sheets. Here, they are never uploaded. Choose the right language (the tool downloads that language's recognition data on first use, then caches it), and prefer sharp, well-lit, straight-on photos for the best accuracy.
How to extract text from an image
- Drop an image containing text – photo, screenshot or scan (JPG/PNG/WebP).
- Select the text's language; mixed English content usually works best on the English setting.
- Click Extract text and watch the progress bar.
- Copy the text with one click or download it as a .txt file.
Why use the GadgetsFocus image to text (ocr) tool?
- Recognizes printed text in English, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, and more.
- Runs fully client-side – sensitive documents never leave your device.
- One-click copy and .txt download.
- Shows a confidence hint so you know when to double-check the output.
- Free and unlimited – no page credits or sign-ups.
Honest limitations
- Handwriting recognition is unreliable – Tesseract is built for printed text.
- Accuracy drops on blurry, low-light or skewed photos; a flat, sharp image can reach ~95%+ on clean print.
- Urdu OCR works but is noticeably less accurate than English – always proofread Nastaliq output.
- Each language pack downloads (~2–15 MB) the first time you use it, then caches.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the text extraction?
On a sharp photo of clean printed text, expect roughly 95–99% accuracy in English. Accuracy falls with blur, glare, decorative fonts and complex layouts – the tool flags low-confidence runs so you know to proofread.
Can it read Urdu?
Yes – select Urdu before extracting. Nastaliq script is genuinely hard for every OCR engine, so treat Urdu output as a strong first draft that needs a proofread rather than perfect text.
Does it work on screenshots?
Screenshots are actually ideal – they're perfectly sharp and flat. Photos of screens (moiré patterns) are much harder; screenshot directly when you can.
Is my document uploaded for processing?
No. Tesseract runs as WebAssembly inside your tab. The only downloads are the engine and language data files – your images generate no upload traffic at all.
Can I OCR a PDF?
Convert the PDF pages to images first with our PDF to JPG tool, then OCR each page here. A direct PDF-OCR tool is on our roadmap.
Related tools: PDF to JPG · Text to speech · Word & character counter · Notepad
Last updated: July 11, 2026. Built and tested by the GadgetsFocus team on Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari (desktop & mobile). Everything on this page runs locally in your browser — we never see, store or transmit your files.