Translate Image to Text, Then to Any Language
Drop in a photo, a screenshot or a scan. We read the words in it and translate them for you in a few seconds.
Text found in image
Translation
Three steps from photo to translation
You do not need an account or an app. Open the page, add a picture and read the result.
Add your picture
Upload a photo from your gallery, drag a file in, or paste a screenshot straight from your clipboard.
We read the text
Optical character recognition scans the picture and pulls out every line of readable text it can find.
Get your translation
Choose the language you want and the translated text appears beside the original, ready to copy.
Where a picture translator earns its place
Most people reach for it in the middle of something else. Here are the moments it helps most.
Menus abroad
Point at a handwritten specials board and learn what is in the dish before you order. Allergy warnings are far easier to catch when you can actually read them. Try the menu translator.
Screenshots and chats
A friend sends a screenshot in another language, or an app has no translate button. Save the screen, drop it in, and read it. See the screenshot translator.
Receipts and bills
Check what you were charged for on an invoice you cannot read.
Signs and tickets
Platform numbers, warning signs and opening hours, all in a single tap.
Forms and documents
Understand a letter or a form before you sign. Our document translator page has tips.
Study notes
Turn a textbook page or a classmate’s notes into text you can search and highlight.
Product labels
Ingredients, washing instructions and size charts on items from overseas stores.
Comics and books
Follow a favorite series that has not been released in your language yet.
Translate a picture to English and beyond
English is the most common target, so we made it the default. You can switch the output to any of the languages below, and read from just as many.
Reading text in a script like Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Arabic takes a little longer the first time, because the language data is downloaded once and then reused.
From pixels to a sentence you can read
A good image translation is really five small jobs done in a row. Knowing them helps you get cleaner results.
1. Load
Your image opens in the browser. It is not uploaded to our servers.
2. Clean
Contrast and noise are adjusted so letters stand out.
3. Recognize
OCR matches shapes to characters in the chosen language.
4. Translate
The recognized lines are sent for translation as plain text.
5. Deliver
You get both versions side by side to copy or double-check.
Built for people who just want the answer
Private by design
The image is read inside your own browser. Only the extracted words travel out for translation.
No waiting room
No signup, no queue and no watermark. Open the page and start.
Shows its work
You see the recognized text first, so a misread letter is easy to spot and fix.
Phone friendly
Take a photo and translate it on the same screen, no extra app required.
| What you need | Typing it out by hand | A typical translate app | This tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading text in a photo | Slow, easy to mistype | Often needs a download | Instant, in the browser |
| Seeing the original text | You typed it already | Sometimes hidden | Always shown side by side |
| Privacy of your picture | Not applicable | Varies by app | Stays on your device |
| Cost | Your time | Free or paid tiers | Free |
What makes a picture easy to translate
The tool can only translate what it can read. These factors matter most, shown as a rough guide to how much each one helps.
Illustrative guide based on how OCR engines behave in general, not a measured benchmark. Our post on getting cleaner OCR results goes deeper.
Crop to the text
Cut away borders, hands and backgrounds so the reader focuses on words, not clutter.
Pick the right source language
Choosing the correct language in the first dropdown makes a bigger difference than most people expect.
Review the first box
If the recognized text looks off, retake the photo. A bad read in means a bad translation out.
Three people, three very different moments
The traveler
You are standing in a train station and every sign looks like a puzzle. Instead of guessing, you snap the departure board and read it in your own language. The same trick works on a pharmacy shelf, a museum plaque or the rules posted by a hotel pool. A few seconds of reading can save you from the wrong platform or the wrong medicine.
The student
A research paper is only available in a language you are still learning. You photograph the page, pull out the text and read it alongside the translation. You still do the thinking, but you stop losing an hour to a single paragraph. It also helps with scanned handouts, where you cannot select or search the words.
The online shopper
The product looks perfect, but the size chart and care label are in another language. A quick translation tells you whether the jacket runs small, what the fabric is and how to wash it. It is a cheap way to avoid returns, and it works just as well on ingredient lists and warranty cards.
Get a cleaner result in any situation
A little care before you press the button usually matters more than anything that happens afterward.
Photographing a menu or sign
Stand square to the surface instead of shooting from the side, because a slanted angle squeezes the letters and confuses the reader. Turn off the flash when the surface is glossy, since a bright reflection can hide whole words. If the menu is long, take one photo per section rather than one wide shot of everything.
Working with a screenshot
Screenshots are already sharp, so the main job is trimming. Crop out icons, status bars and unrelated chat bubbles. If the text is tiny, zoom in before you capture it. Dark mode usually works fine, but very low contrast gray text on a black background can be missed.
Scanning a document
Lay the page flat and use even light from above. Keep your hands out of the frame and avoid shadows from your phone. For a multi-page document, translate one page at a time and keep the results in order, so you can match them to the original later.
Reading handwriting
Neat block letters work far better than cursive. Expect a few mistakes and use the first result box to correct obvious ones before you rely on the translation. When accuracy matters, ask the writer or a native speaker to confirm the key words.
What a picture translator can and cannot do
It is excellent at the everyday jobs: figuring out what a label says, getting the gist of a message or checking a price. It is much less reliable when the stakes are high. Idioms, slang and wordplay often come out flat, and a single misread character can change a sentence.
So treat the output as a quick, useful draft. For contracts, medical instructions, immigration paperwork or anything you will be held to, use it to understand the outline and then have a qualified professional review the details. We would rather tell you that now than have you find out later.
A note on privacy
Pictures often contain more than you meant to share, like names, addresses or account numbers. That is why the reading step happens in your browser instead of on our servers. Only the recognized words are passed along so they can be translated. Even so, avoid translating images with passwords or card numbers, and read our privacy policy to see exactly how data is handled.
Free to start. Upgrade when you need more.
The tool above stays free. Paid plans are for people who translate pictures every day and want higher limits, more languages and extra tools.
🥉 Basic
For regular everyday translating.
Yearly works out to about $4.17 a month.
- Everything in Free
- Higher daily image limit
- 30+ languages
- Ad-free tool experience
- Download results as TXT
- Email support
🥇 Golden
For students, shoppers and frequent travelers.
Yearly works out to about $8.33 a month.
- Everything in Basic
- Batch upload, many images at once
- 60+ extra OCR languages
- Handwriting mode
- PDF and Word export
- Translation history
- Priority speed
💎 Platinum
For teams, creators and heavy daily use.
Yearly works out to about $12.50 a month.
- Everything in Golden
- Highest limits for daily work
- Bulk document translation
- Custom glossary of your own terms
- API access for your apps
- Up to 3 team seats
- Priority support
Just want to translate a picture? The free tool is always available, with no signup. See the full plan comparison.
Guides worth a quick read
Practical walkthroughs for translating photos on every kind of device.
Why some languages take more care than others
Not every writing system is equally easy for a computer to read. A little background explains why results can vary from one photo to the next.
Latin alphabets
Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese share familiar letters, so recognition is usually quick and accurate. Accents matter, though. A missing accent can change a word, so zoom in on small print before you shoot.
Character-based scripts
Chinese, Japanese and Korean use thousands of characters, many of them close in shape. Larger, cleaner text helps a lot. Vertical layouts, common in signs and comics, can be harder to read than horizontal lines.
Right-to-left scripts
Arabic connects its letters and changes their shape depending on position. That makes blurry photos especially tricky, so aim for steady hands and good light, and check that the reading order looks right in the result.
Mixed-language pages, like a menu with English prices and local dish names, are best handled in two passes. Run the image once for each language and combine what you learn.
Questions people ask before they try it
How do I translate text from a photo?
Upload the picture, choose the language written in it and the language you want, then press Translate. The recognized text and its translation show up side by side.
Is the image translator really free?
Yes. You can use it as often as you like without paying or creating an account.
Does my photo get uploaded anywhere?
The picture is read inside your browser. Only the plain text pulled from it is sent to a translation service so it can be translated.
Can it translate a picture to English?
Yes, English is the default target. Pick the language in your photo from the first menu and leave the second one on English.
Why is some text read incorrectly?
Blur, glare, small print, fancy fonts and handwriting are the usual causes. A sharper, straighter and better lit photo almost always helps.
Can I translate a screenshot?
Absolutely. Screenshots are often the cleanest input because the text is crisp. You can even paste one with Ctrl+V.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Open the page in your phone browser, tap the upload area and choose a photo or take a new one.
Is machine translation perfect?
No. It is a fast way to get the meaning, but for legal, medical or financial documents you should ask a qualified human translator to confirm.
Got a picture you cannot read?
Scroll back up, drop it in and see what it says. It takes a few seconds and costs nothing.
Translate an image now