How to Extract Text from an Image (Free OCR, In Your Browser)
OCR — optical character recognition — reads the letters in a picture and gives you back real, editable text. It is how you get a quote off a screenshot, a receipt into a spreadsheet, or a printed page into a document without retyping it. Here is how to do it for free, and privately, without uploading your image to anyone.
The tool
Image to Text (OCR)
Step by step
- Open the toolGo to Image to Text (OCR). It runs in your browser — your image is never uploaded.
- Add your imageDrop in a PNG, JPG, WebP, or BMP (up to 15 MB), or click to browse.
- Extract the textPress Extract text. The first run downloads the OCR engine once (a small ~2 MB model), then reads the image locally.
- Copy the resultReview the extracted text and copy it with one click, ready to paste anywhere.
Why do this in your browser instead of an upload site?
Most “free online OCR” tools upload your image to their servers to process it — which means a photo of your ID, a receipt, or a private document lands on someone else’s computer.
This tool runs the recognition locally in your browser, so the image never leaves your device. Only the OCR engine itself is downloaded (once, from Kitolity’s own servers) — not your picture.
Getting the most accurate results
OCR is strongest on clear, printed text. For the best result: crop the image to just the text, make sure it is well-lit and in focus, and keep the page straight rather than skewed at an angle.
Handwriting, stylised fonts, low contrast, and busy backgrounds are much harder and may produce mistakes — a cleaner photo usually helps more than anything else.
What you can use it for
Common uses: copying text out of a screenshot, digitising a printed page or receipt, pulling a quote from a photo of a book, or getting the words out of an image so you can search or edit them.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free and private?
Yes — it is free with no sign-up, and the recognition runs entirely in your browser, so your image is never uploaded. Only the OCR engine and language model are downloaded once from our servers.
Which languages does it support?
It currently reads English text. Support for more languages may be added over time.
Why is the first use slower?
The first run downloads the OCR engine and a small (~2 MB) English model, which is then cached — so subsequent runs start almost instantly.