PDF OCR

Extract text from scanned PDFs and images using AI-powered OCR. Free, 100% private — works directly in your browser.

📁 Drop scanned PDF or image here or

PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP — any scanned document

Language

ℹ️ First use: Downloads ~12MB OCR language model. Subsequent uses are instant (cached). One-time setup per language.

About PDF OCR

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) extracts text from scanned documents, images, and non-searchable PDFs using Tesseract.js with LSTM neural networks. Supports 14 languages. All processing in your browser.

AI-Powered Recognition

Uses Tesseract OCR engine with LSTM neural networks for high-accuracy text extraction from scans.

14 Languages

English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi.

Multi-page Support

Processes all pages of your PDF automatically. Results combined into one text output.

100% Private

All OCR processing happens in your browser using Tesseract.js. Your documents never leave your device. Language data (~12MB) cached after first use.

📋 Common Use Cases

Digitize Paper Archives

Convert scanned paper documents and old printed records into searchable, editable digital text.

Extract Text from Photos

Pull text content from photo-scanned documents, receipts, and business cards stored as PDFs.

Make PDFs Searchable

Add a searchable text layer to image-only PDFs so you can find information by keyword instantly.

Process Multilingual Docs

Recognize text from documents in 12 supported languages including English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese.

🪜 How to Use This Tool

Upload scanned PDF
Drag your scanned PDF or image-based PDF onto the upload area to begin the OCR process.

Select recognition language
Choose the document language from 12 supported options to improve OCR accuracy dramatically.

Run OCR recognition
Click start and wait as Tesseract.js processes each page locally in your browser to extract text.

Copy or download text
Review the recognized text and copy it to your clipboard or download as a searchable PDF or .txt file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this PDF tool really free?▼

Yes. Every PDF tool on iluv.tools is completely free. No signup, no account, no payment. Everything runs in your browser.

Are my PDF files uploaded to a server?▼

No. All PDF processing happens locally in your browser using the pdf-lib and PDF.js libraries. Your files never leave your device.

Do these PDF tools work offline?▼

Basic PDF tools (merge, split, compress, rotate, sign, watermark, protect, unlock, add page numbers, edit metadata, flatten, grayscale, crop, delete pages) work completely offline after the page loads. AI-powered tools like smart compression and PDF to Word require an internet connection.

Is there a file size limit?▼

Browser-based tools handle files up to ~100MB smoothly. Larger files may be slower depending on your device. For very large PDFs, try splitting them first, processing the parts, then merging.

Can I use these on mobile?▼

Yes. All PDF tools work on mobile browsers (iOS Safari, Android Chrome). Desktop is recommended for large files, but everything is functional on mobile.