How to extract Russian text from a picture
- Select the file. A phone photo, a scan, a screenshot or page 1 of a PDF, as JPG, PNG, WEBP or HEIC, up to 5 MB.
- Press Get the text. The Cyrillic on the whole page is recognized in a few seconds.
- Use the text. Copy it, or download it as a .txt file or a Word file with any tables kept.
Cyrillic, not lookalike Latin letters
Russian shares shapes with the Latin alphabet. А, В, Е, К, М, Н, О, Р, С, Т and Х look like Latin letters but are different characters. Text that mixes them up looks right on screen and then fails in a search or a dictionary. The OCR here returns real Cyrillic characters, so a copied word works in a translator, a search box or a database.
- Russian and Ukrainian
- Including ё, й, ъ and ь, and the Ukrainian і, ї, є and ґ
- Documents
- Birth and marriage certificates, diplomas, transcripts, work books and contracts
- Tables
- A grade table or a list of entries comes back as a Word table
- Dates and numbers
- Stay exactly as printed
- Stamps
- A round office stamp stays in place where it sits on the page
Free Russian OCR options
| Option | Files | Russian | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive, Open with Google Docs | PDF or JPEG, PNG or GIF photos of 2 MB or smaller[1] | Russian and Russian (Old Orthography) are listed[1] | A Google Doc. Lists, tables and columns are not likely to be detected[1] |
| Live Text on iPhone and iPad | Photos, on an iPhone XS or later with iOS 15 or later[2] | Russian and Ukrainian are in Apple's list[3] | Text you select and copy on the phone |
| Google Translate, Images tab | An image uploaded in the browser[4] | Translates the text in the image | Translated text to copy, or the translated image[4] |
| LoreAI Russian OCR | JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or a one-page PDF up to 5 MB, 1 free run a day with no account, 10 with a free one | Printed Russian and Ukrainian | The text, a .txt file, or a Word file with tables |
Translate a Russian document into English
The free tool keeps the text in Russian. To read it in English, upload the document to the LoreAI app. It detects Russian or Ukrainian by itself, translates into English or any of 105 languages, and returns one editable Word file with headings, lists and tables in their original order. Names are transliterated into Latin letters.
Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB. For photos of documents, read Russian to English image translator. LoreAI is not a certified translation service. When an authority needs a certified translation, a translator reviews the Word draft and signs the certificate.
How to photograph a Russian page
- Place the page on a dark, flat surface and shoot straight down.
- Fill the frame, because и and н, or ш and щ, differ by a small stroke. Google asks for text at least 10 pixels high for its own converter[1].
- Avoid flash on glossy certificates, which leaves a white patch over the text.
- Rotate the photo upright before you upload it.
Questions people ask
Is this Russian OCR free?
Yes. 1 run a day is free with no account, and a free account gives you 10 runs a day.
Does it read Ukrainian?
Yes. Ukrainian letters such as і, ї, є and ґ come back as typed Cyrillic.
Can I convert a Russian PDF to Word?
Yes. Upload page 1 here and download Word, or upload the whole PDF to the LoreAI app for every page.
Sources
- Google Drive Help: Convert PDF and photo files to text, accessed November 5, 2026
- Apple Support: Use Live Text to get information from photos, videos, and images, accessed November 5, 2026
- Apple: iOS and iPadOS Feature Availability, accessed November 5, 2026
- Google Translate Help: Translate images, accessed November 5, 2026
By Matt Mountain ·