# Chinese OCR: turn Chinese characters in an image into text

Chinese OCR reads the characters in a photo, screenshot or scan and gives them back as text you can copy, search and edit. Upload a JPG, PNG, WEBP or one-page PDF below, and simplified or traditional characters appear in seconds. A free account opens the full text as .txt or Word, and the LoreAI app also translates the document into an editable English Word file.

## How to extract Chinese text from an image

1. **Choose the image.** A photo of a page, a screenshot, a scan or the first page of a PDF, as JPG, PNG, WEBP or HEIC, up to 5 MB.
2. **Press Get the text.** Chinese text recognition starts at once, and the first lines appear after a few seconds.
3. **Enter your email and the code.** We send a 6-digit code. Typing it in opens the full text and creates a free account if you have none.
4. **Copy or download.** Copy the characters in one click, or download a .txt file or a Word document with the tables rebuilt.

## Simplified and traditional characters

The tool reads both writing systems and gives each back exactly as printed. A page from mainland China or Singapore comes back in simplified characters, and a page from Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau comes back in traditional ones. Nothing is converted between the two, so 学 stays 学 and 學 stays 學.

- **Simplified Chinese**: Forms, contracts, invoices, product manuals and WeChat screenshots
- **Traditional Chinese**: Certificates, newspapers, menus and signs from Taiwan and Hong Kong
- **Chinese and English together**: Bilingual forms, business cards and labels come back with both languages in reading order
- **Numbers and dates**: Arabic numerals and dates such as 2024年3月8日 stay as written
- **Tables**: Rows and cells of a bank statement, transcript or price list, rebuilt as a real table in the Word file
- **Seals**: A red company or office seal stays in place in the Word file, where it is on the original

## Free ways to recognize Chinese characters

For one line, your phone may already do it. For a full page, what you can download matters more.

*Chinese OCR options, checked on November 3, 2026*

| Option | Where it works | Chinese | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Live Text on iPhone and iPad | An iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later with iOS 15 or later[1] | Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) and Cantonese are listed[2] | A selection or all of the text, copied[1] |
| Google Drive, Open with Google Docs | Any browser, for JPEG, PNG or GIF files of 2 MB or smaller[3] | Simplified, Traditional and Hong Kong Chinese are listed[3] | A Google Doc. Google says tables and columns are not likely to be detected[3] |
| LoreAI Chinese OCR | Any browser, for JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or a one-page PDF up to 5 MB, 10 a day with a free account | Simplified and traditional characters | Text to copy, a .txt file, or a Word file with tables |

Live Text suits a street sign or a single sentence. A downloadable Word file suits a contract, a statement or a certificate you want to keep and edit.

## From Chinese characters to an English Word file

The free tool keeps the text in Chinese. To read it in English, the [LoreAI app](https://www.loreai.org/app) takes the whole document, detects Chinese by itself and translates it into English or one of 105 languages. You get an editable Word file with headings, lists and tables in the original order, and names in pinyin, as in Zhang Weiming for 张伟明.

A notarial certificate, a hukou booklet or a bank statement of several pages goes in as one PDF and comes out as one Word file. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages. For a photo, see [how to translate a Chinese image to English](https://www.loreai.org/translate-image-to-english/chinese), and for a PDF, [how to translate a Chinese PDF to English](https://www.loreai.org/translate-pdf/chinese-to-english). LoreAI is not a certified translation service. For an official use, a translator reviews the Word draft and signs the certification.

## How to photograph a Chinese page

- Hold the phone straight over the page, with all four corners in the frame.
- Get close enough that dense characters are sharp. Google's guidance for its own converter is text at least 10 pixels high[3].
- Use even light, and keep glare off glossy paper and laminated cards.
- Turn the photo upright before you upload it.
- For a WeChat message or a web page, upload a screenshot instead of a photo of the screen.

## What happens to your image

LoreAI's OCR provider reads the image once and deletes it right after. The text waits on LoreAI's server for 1 hour so you can open it after signing in, visible only to the browser that uploaded it until then. After that it is deleted.

## Questions people ask

### Is this Chinese OCR free?

Yes, with a free account. You see the first lines before you sign up, and the account gives you 10 runs a day without using up your free document in the app.

### Does it read traditional Chinese?

Yes. Traditional and simplified characters are both read and come back in the same form as on the page.

### Can it convert simplified characters to traditional?

No. The tool returns the characters exactly as printed. To get the text in another language, use the LoreAI app.

### Does it translate Chinese to English?

The free tool gives you the Chinese text. The LoreAI app translates the whole document into English and returns an editable Word file.

### Can I copy Chinese text from a screenshot?

Yes. Upload the screenshot as PNG or JPG and copy the characters, or download them as a .txt or Word file.

## Sources

1. [Apple Support: Copy and translate text from photos on your iPhone or iPad](https://support.apple.com/en-us/120004), accessed November 3, 2026
2. [Apple: iOS Feature Availability, Live Text](https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/), accessed November 3, 2026
3. [Google Drive Help: Convert PDF and photo files to text](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/176692?hl=en), accessed November 3, 2026

By Matt Mountain · Updated November 3, 2026