· Guides
Is Image to Text AI? How OCR Reads Your Photos
Is photo to text AI? Yes, a small neural network reads each line. How Tesseract's LSTM works, how it differs from AI chatbots, and what that means for you.
Copy the words from an Instagram post, story, quote card or caption screenshot. Add the screenshot, extract the text and paste it wherever you need it. The image is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Supports JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, WebP, TIFF, HEIC, HEIF, HEICS
Auto detects the writing system and reads it. For better results, pick the language (up to 3 if the text mixes languages).
Drop a screenshot of a post, story or caption here, or press Ctrl+V
or
Max file size: 10MB
Convert different image formats to text with our specialized OCR tools
Instagram images vary a lot, and OCR copes with some of them much better than others. Plain dark text on a light background, like a caption, a comment thread or a simple quote card, usually comes out almost perfect. Designed graphics are harder.
Expect to correct a few words in these cases:
Only the text is extracted. Layout, colors and fonts are not kept. This page is not affiliated with Instagram or Meta; it reads screenshots and images you already have on your device.
Text inside an Instagram image is part of the picture, so it cannot be selected. A screenshot and OCR turn it into real text.
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1
On a phone, press power and volume down (or use your phone's screenshot shortcut) while the post or story is on screen. For a story, pause it first by holding your finger on it. On a computer, use Win+Shift+S or Cmd+Shift+4.
2
Choose the screenshot with the button, drop it on the box or paste it with Ctrl+V (up to 10 MB). Crop away the profile bar, buttons and comments if you only need the text in the image.
3
Click Extract Text, fix any misread words in the box, then copy the text or download it as .txt or .docx.
Save the ingredients or steps from a carousel as text you can edit, shop from or print.
Copy a quote card or a long caption into your notes without retyping it.
Pull dates, addresses, prices and codes out of a story before it disappears.
Extract the text first, then paste it into a translator of your choice.
Our image to text converter is designed to streamline the process of extracting text from images. However, we understand you might have a few questions. To make the most of this tool, we've compiled some frequently asked questions along with helpful explanations to guide you.
Take a screenshot of the post, add it to the tool above and click Extract Text. The words in the image come back as plain text you can select, copy and paste. The same works for any app; see screenshot to text for capture shortcuts on each device.
Yes. Hold your finger on the story to pause it, take a screenshot, then add the screenshot here. Text on a busy photo or a bright gradient reads less reliably than plain text, so check the result and crop closer if words are wrong.
Usually because of the design: fancy fonts, text over a photo, small text or a low resolution image. Crop to the text, zoom in before taking the screenshot, and check the confidence score under the result. For soft, low quality images, see blurry image to text.
No. The OCR runs in your browser, so the screenshot and the text stay on your device. Nothing is posted to Instagram and no account is needed.
Tips, guides, and insights on OCR technology
· Guides
Is photo to text AI? Yes, a small neural network reads each line. How Tesseract's LSTM works, how it differs from AI chatbots, and what that means for you.
· Guides
Image to text with Google Lens or a browser OCR tool? A fair comparison: camera, translation and handwriting vs batch files, downloads and no upload.
· How-to
Pull phone numbers and email addresses out of a photo, flyer or screenshot with free in-browser OCR, then copy them without retyping a single digit.