---
title: "Chinese Image to Text: Read the Chinese in Any Picture, With Pinyin | Mandarin The Wild"
description: "Free Chinese image to text (OCR) online: choose, drop or paste a screenshot or photo and get its Chinese characters as text, with tone-coloured pinyin over every word and each word’s meaning a tap away. Read on your device; the picture is never uploaded."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-image-to-text"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

Free tool · No sign-up

# Chinese image to text

Choose, drop or paste a picture and get its Chinese as text, with pinyin over every word.

Drop a picture here, or paste a screenshot.

## How do I get the Chinese text out of a picture?

Choose a picture, drop it on the box or paste a screenshot (Ctrl+V or ⌘V). The Chinese in it is read line by line and written out as text you can copy, with the pinyin over every word in tone colours. Tap or hover any word for its meaning.

## What pictures does it read?

Screenshots, photos of menus, signs, packaging and book pages, and subtitles from a paused video, in simplified or traditional characters, printed or on a screen. Clear, upright text reads best; handwriting and fancy calligraphy often don’t.

## Is my picture uploaded?

No. The characters are read by a text reader that runs in your browser; the first time, it downloads once and is kept. Only the text it reads is sent to our reader to add the pinyin, and nothing is kept.

## Can it read a whole PDF or a book?

Yes, in [Immersion](https://mandarinthewild.com/immersion): add the PDF or the photos of its pages and every page is read the same way, then opened in our reader with every word explained. It needs a free account, since the text is kept for you.

## More free tools

- [Pinyin converter](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-converter): paste Chinese text, get pinyin
- [Chinese text to speech](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-text-to-speech): hear it read aloud
- [Handwriting input](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-handwriting-input): draw a character you can’t type
- [Chinese speech to text](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-speech-to-text)

Characters read on your device by PP-OCRv5, an open text reader; the words and their pinyin by our own reader.