Technology
How does OCR (text recognition) work?
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) turns images of text — like a scanned page or photo — into editable digital text. It finds shapes that look like letters, compares them to known character patterns (often with AI), and outputs the matching text.
See it in motion.
Watch a 2-minute animated lesson that shows exactly how OCR works.
Step by step
- 1It converts pictures of text into digital text.
- 2It detects letter shapes in the image.
- 3It matches them to known characters, often using AI.
- 4It powers scanning apps, translations, and document search.
Frequently asked questions
- How does OCR work?
- It locates letter shapes in an image and matches them to known characters, outputting editable text.
- What is OCR used for?
- Digitizing documents, scanning receipts, reading license plates, and translating text in photos.
- Is OCR always accurate?
- Mostly, but messy handwriting, poor scans, or unusual fonts can cause errors.