OCR is a technology that extracts machine-readable text from images, scanned documents, and PDFs, enabling search and editing of printed content.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that analyzes images of text — from scanned documents, photographs, or PDF files — and converts them into editable, searchable, machine-readable text. Modern OCR engines use deep learning and neural networks to achieve accuracy rates above 99% for clean printed text, though handwriting, unusual fonts, and low-quality scans remain challenging. OCR is essential for digitizing paper archives, making scanned PDFs searchable, extracting data from invoices and receipts, and enabling accessibility for visually impaired users. The process typically involves image preprocessing (deskewing, noise removal), character segmentation, pattern recognition, and post-processing with language models.
File metadata is embedded information about a file — such as creation date, author, dimensions, and technical settings — stored alongside the actual content.
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a standard for storing camera settings, GPS location, and technical details inside photo files.
DPI (dots per inch) measures print resolution, while PPI (pixels per inch) measures screen resolution — they are related but not interchangeable.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible, high-quality image format used in publishing, photography, and archival for lossless image storage.