How Do I Extract Text from an Image?

Step-by-Step: Extracting Text from an Image with FastOCR

Step 1: Go to the Image to Text Page Navigate to [fastocr.org/image-to-text](/image-to-text). You will see a simple upload interface with no ads, captchas, or sign-up walls.

Step 2: Upload Your Image Click the upload button or drag and drop your image file. FastOCR accepts all common image formats: - **JPG/JPEG** — photos from phones and cameras - **PNG** — screenshots and web captures - **TIFF** — high-quality scans - **BMP** — uncompressed image files - **WebP** — modern web format - **HEIC** — iPhone photos

You can upload multiple images at once for batch processing.

Step 3: Select the Document Language Choose the language of the text in your image from the dropdown. FastOCR supports 31 languages. Selecting the correct language improves accuracy by 10-20% because the engine uses language-specific character models.

Step 4: Click Convert FastOCR processes your image in 2-5 seconds. The AI analyzes every pixel, identifies text regions, segments characters, and converts them to editable text.

Step 5: Copy or Download Your Text The extracted text appears on screen immediately. Copy it directly or download as a text file. No email required, no account needed.

What Types of Images Work Best

• **Clean screenshots:** 99%+ accuracy — sharp digital text
• **Phone photos of documents:** 95-98% — good with even lighting and focus
• **Scanned documents:** 97-99% — especially at 300 DPI or higher
• **Whiteboard photos:** 90-95% — depends on marker clarity and distance
• **Book page photos:** 93-97% — press the book flat and shoot from above
• **Receipt photos:** 95-98% — photograph within 24 hours before thermal fading

Tips for Better Text Extraction

1. **Shoot from directly above** — avoid angled photos that distort text 2. **Use even lighting** — avoid shadows from your hand, phone, or overhead lights 3. **Keep the camera steady** — blur is the single biggest cause of OCR errors 4. **Fill the frame with text** — avoid excessive background that reduces text resolution 5. **Use 300 DPI or higher** — most modern phone cameras capture at this resolution automatically 6. **Select the correct language** — wrong language selection reduces accuracy by 10-20% 7. **Enable AI Polish** — post-processing corrects the most common character misrecognitions