Kwebby's PNG to Text tool reads the text in a PNG image and returns it as editable text. Your browser prepares the image, and Kwebby's OCR service passes it to an AI vision model that reads the text. You upload a PNG, wait a few seconds, and copy the text or download a .txt file. Kwebby does not save your image.
PNG is a good format for OCR because it keeps edges sharp. That helps, but it does not rescue a small, blurry or handwritten image, so check the result.
Key Takeaways
- Kwebby's PNG to Text tool is a free OCR tool that reads text with an AI vision model on Kwebby's OCR service.
- Upload a screenshot or scan, review the text in an editable area, then copy it or download a .txt file.
- PNG is lossless, so text edges stay sharp, which helps OCR more than a compressed JPG.
- Low-resolution images, handwriting and decorative fonts still extract poorly.
- The tool is not limited to English. The model reads many languages, but test a sample in your language first.
- Your image is sent to Kwebby's OCR service and an AI provider to read the text. Kwebby does not store it.
What Is the Kwebby PNG to Text Tool?
Kwebby's PNG to Text tool is a free online OCR tool that extracts readable text from PNG screenshots, scanned pages and other images with an AI vision model, and shows it in an editable text area. You can copy it or save it as a .txt file. It needs no account.
OCR means optical character recognition. The engine studies the shapes in an image, matches them to characters and returns the result as text. The tool is a fit for error messages, web pages, app screens and scans that you saved as PNG.
Key Features and How It Works
The tool follows a short path: upload, recognize, review, copy.
AI OCR With In-Browser Preparation
Your browser opens the image, scales it down to 2,400 pixels on the longest side if it is larger, and sends it to Kwebby's OCR service. The service asks an AI vision model to return all the text with its line breaks. Kwebby does not save the image or the text, but the image does leave your device, so crop out private details such as account numbers before you upload a screenshot of a dashboard. Each visitor can run 10 images per minute, up to 8 MB each.
Why PNG Suits OCR
MDN describes PNG as using lossless compression, so pixel values are preserved, while JPEG is a lossy format. In practice, a PNG screenshot avoids the smudging that JPEG compression can add around the edges of letters. That gives the OCR model cleaner shapes to read.
Editable Result
The extracted text appears in a text area where you can edit it. Remove stray characters, fix a misread word and trim lines before you save.
Copy or Download
Copy the text to your clipboard, or download it as a .txt file. Plain text opens in any editor or word processor.
Accepted Files
The upload box reads "Drop PNG image here or click to browse" and lists .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp and .webp. For photographed documents, JPG to Text is the main OCR page, and BMP to Text and TIFF to Text cover those formats.
Why Extracting Text From a PNG Matters
Text inside an image cannot be searched, quoted, edited or read by a screen reader. OCR turns it into characters.
Screenshots are the most common case. Error messages, settings pages and apps often do not let you select text, so retyping a long error code invites mistakes. Scanned pages and design exports saved as PNG have the same problem.
The limit is accuracy. OCR can misread similar characters, such as the letter O and the digit zero, so check codes, numbers and names against the image.
How to Use the PNG to Text Tool
Four steps take you from screenshot to text.
- Upload your PNG. Click the upload area that reads "Drop PNG image here or click to browse", or drag the file onto it.
- Wait for OCR processing. The tool shows "Reading text with AI OCR" while the AI model reads the image. This usually takes a few seconds.
- Review the result. The extracted text appears in a text area. Read it against the image and edit it.
- Copy or download. Copy the text to your clipboard, or download it as a .txt file.
Best Practices for OCR on Screenshots and Scans
A sharper input gives a better result. These tips draw on general OCR guidance, including the Tesseract documentation on improving quality, which applies to most OCR engines.
Capture at a Readable Size
The Tesseract documentation recommends 300 dpi or more, which in practice means text that is large and crisp in the image. Small interface text captured at normal zoom can be low resolution. Zoom the page or window in before you take the screenshot.
Crop to the Text
Remove menus, toolbars and empty margins with the Image Crop Tool. The same documentation says noise lowers accuracy, and that a small border helps while a very large empty one can cause failures.
Prefer High Contrast
Dark text on a light background reads best. If a dark mode screenshot gives poor output, retake it with a light theme.
Keep Text Straight
Skewed lines hurt recognition, according to the same documentation. Rotate scans so lines run horizontally, and avoid screenshots taken at an angle from a phone.
Avoid Handwriting and Decorative Fonts
Handwriting and artistic typefaces are weak spots for OCR. Printed text in standard fonts is the target. Low-resolution sources still read poorly even though PNG is lossless.
Use the Right Source for PDFs
If you have a PDF with selectable text, PDF to Text reads it directly. For a scanned PDF, convert its pages with PDF to JPG first, then run the images through OCR.
Common Use Cases
- Copying error messages from application screenshots.
- Pulling text from website screenshots that cannot be selected.
- Converting scanned pages saved as PNG into editable text.
- Extracting body text and headlines from design mockups or exported slide images.
- Pulling the words out of an infographic.
- Saving the cleaned images as a document with JPG to PDF.
Related Kwebby Tools
Kwebby has an OCR tool for each common image type and PDF helpers for the steps around it. They all live under PDF Tools.
- JPG to Text reads text from JPG photos and other common image types.
- BMP to Text handles bitmap images.
- TIFF to Text handles scanned TIFF documents.
- PDF to Text extracts text from PDFs that already have a text layer.
- JPG to PDF turns images into a PDF.
- All-in-One PDF Converter routes many file types to the right tool.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is the PNG to Text OCR tool free?
Yes. The tool is completely free, and you do not need an account.
Does this work on PNG screenshots?
Yes. PNG screenshots are a good source for OCR because they are sharp and lossless. Small text, dark themes and low resolution can still lower accuracy, so zoom in before you capture.
Are my images uploaded to a server?
Yes. Your browser prepares the image and sends it to Kwebby's OCR service, which passes it to an AI provider to read the text. Kwebby does not store the image or the result.
Can it extract text from scanned documents saved as PNG?
Yes, if the scan is clear and high resolution. Blurry, tilted or low-resolution scans produce weaker results, so proofread the text.
Which languages does the PNG to Text tool read?
The tool is not limited to English. The AI model reads many languages and scripts, and you do not pick one. Accuracy varies, so test a sample first.
Final Thoughts
Kwebby's PNG to Text tool is a quick way to turn screenshots and clear PNG scans into editable text. It works best on sharp, high-contrast, printed text, and it needs a proofread. Upload a cropped screenshot now, copy the result and compare it with the image. For other formats and PDF tasks, open the PDF Tools hub.