You have a screenshot of a table, a photo of a printed page, or an image of a document, and you need the words as text. Retyping is slow. OCR (optical character recognition) reads the text in an image for you.
This guide shows how to extract text from an image for free, in your browser, with tips to get accurate results and an honest look at where OCR struggles.
Key Takeaway: OCR is only as good as the image. Straight, sharp, high-contrast pictures give near-clean text; blurry, tilted or handwritten ones need more checking.
Step by Step: Image to Text
- Open the Image to Text tool.
- Upload your image or screenshot.
- Choose the language the text is written in. This matters for accuracy.
- Run the extraction, then copy the text or edit it.
The tool uses OCR that runs in your browser, so your image is not uploaded to a server. The first run may take a moment while the language data loads.
Languages Supported
The tool offers a language list including English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese and Korean. Pick the one that matches your text, because the wrong language setting produces garbled results. Mixed-language images are harder, so split them or run each language separately.
Tips for More Accurate Results
- Use a sharp, well-lit image. Blur and shadows are the main cause of errors. If a photo has a shadow across the page, try the shadow remover first.
- Straighten it. A tilted page reads worse. Fix it with the Rotate tool.
- Crop to the text. Remove borders, photos and decoration with the Crop tool.
- Enlarge small text. Tiny screenshots read poorly. See our upscaling guide.
- Proofread. Check names, numbers and punctuation before you use the text.
What OCR Cannot Do Well
Handwriting, stylized fonts, low-resolution photos and text over busy backgrounds often come out with mistakes. Tables and multi-column layouts may lose their structure, so expect to reformat. Never rely on OCR output for legal, medical or financial details without checking against the original.
Privacy note: Because the work happens in your browser, it is a good fit for IDs, contracts and personal documents. Still, avoid sharing the extracted text carelessly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I extract text from an image for free?
Upload the image to the TinyPNG Now Image to Text tool, choose the language and run it. The text appears for you to copy. It works in your browser with no signup.
Is it safe to use an online OCR tool?
With this tool the OCR runs in your browser, so your image is not uploaded to a server. That makes it a better option for personal documents than upload-based tools.
Can it read Urdu or Hindi text?
Yes, Urdu and Hindi are in the language list, along with Arabic and several others. Select the matching language for best accuracy.
Why is the extracted text wrong?
Usually the image is blurry, tilted, low-resolution or set to the wrong language. Straighten and crop the image, enlarge small text and confirm the language.
Can OCR read handwriting?
Not reliably. OCR works best on printed text. Handwriting usually needs manual correction.
Summary: Pick the right language, use a sharp, straight, cropped image and proofread the result. Try the free Image to Text tool — it runs in your browser.