Extract text from any image — free, private, instant.
Drop a screenshot, photo, or scan. Get clean, copyable text in seconds across 12 languages. No uploads, no signup, no watermarks.
Drop an image, click to browse, or paste from clipboard
Supports PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP, GIF · up to 10MB recommended
Privacy-First
Every pixel stays on your device. No uploads, no servers.
12 Languages
English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic & more.
Free Forever
No signup. No watermarks. No hidden quotas.
Mobile Ready
Works on any modern browser — desktop, tablet, or phone.
How to use extractmytext.app
Four steps. Your images never leave your browser.
Drop or upload an image
PNG, JPG, WebP, or HEIC — drag into the box or click to browse. Files up to 20MB supported.
Pick a language
Choose from 12 supported languages. English is default; the model loads lazily the first time you use each language.
Click Extract Text
Tesseract.js runs in your browser. Watch the live progress bar — typically 2-5 seconds for a clear image.
Copy or download
Edit the extracted text inline if needed, then copy to clipboard or download as .txt. Recent extractions are saved locally.
Free online OCR — extract text from images in seconds
extractmytext.app is a free, private image-to-text extractor. Unlike onlineocr.net, i2OCR, or remove-background style tools that upload your files to a remote server, every pixel you drop here stays in your browser. The OCR engine is Tesseract.js, a WebAssembly port of Google's Tesseract OCR. It runs directly in your tab, using your device's CPU, and caches language data so subsequent scans are instant.
How to extract text from an image
- Drag an image into the drop zone, click to browse, or paste a screenshot with Ctrl/Cmd+V.
- Pick a language. English is selected by default and works for most screenshots and scans.
- Wait a few seconds. You'll see a live progress bar with stages (loading language pack, recognizing text).
- Review the result in the editable textarea. Copy it, or download as .txt or .md.
Supported formats
PNG, JPG, JPEG, WebP, BMP, and GIF work natively. HEIC (common on iPhones) is not supported by browsers — convert it first using convertmyheic.app. PDFs are not supported directly; screenshot the page or export to image first.
Supported languages
extractmytext.app supports the 12 most-searched OCR languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, and Dutch. The first time you use a language, a ~5MB training data file downloads in the background. After that, it's cached and scans are instant.
When accuracy matters most
Accuracy improves dramatically with good input. Use screenshots where the text is at least 20 pixels tall, well-lit, and not on a busy background. If results are poor, try the grayscale or increase-contrast toggle — these often boost accuracy on photos of printed text. Handwriting is notoriously harder than printed text and extractmytext.app doesn't use a specialized handwriting model, so expect lower confidence on notes and cursive.
Why choose a client-side OCR tool?
- Privacy:Screenshots often contain sensitive data — passwords, addresses, medical results, private messages. Every other free OCR tool uploads them. We don't.
- Speed: No upload, no queue. Processing starts the moment you drop the file.
- Offline-capable: After the first run with a language, you can disconnect from the internet and keep scanning.
- Zero friction: No signup, no captcha, no credit system. Open the tab, extract text, close the tab.
Common use cases
Students copy text from lecture slides and textbook scans. Developers paste error-message screenshots to Google the solution. Journalists extract quotes from photos of printed documents. Designers pull copy out of mockups. Support teams transcribe screenshots from customer emails. Anyone can turn a photo of a receipt, sign, or whiteboard into searchable text in seconds.