Convurter

OCR limits

Why OCR results can be wrong

OCR is recognition, not extraction. It guesses text from pixels, so scan quality, rotation, contrast, font size, language, noise, and page layout matter more than the file extension.

Details

What to know

1

Digital text is different from OCR

If a PDF already has selectable digital text, use PDF to Text first. OCR is for scans and images; running OCR on a digital PDF can introduce recognition errors that were not present in the source.

2

Image quality drives accuracy

Low contrast, blur, shadows, skew, small text, photos taken at an angle, compressed screenshots, and rotated pages all reduce OCR quality. Use readiness and scan-quality checks before launching a long OCR job.

3

Language and layout still need review

OCR can struggle with mixed languages, handwriting, tables, columns, stamps, forms, vertical text, and decorative fonts. Treat the TXT output as a draft that needs human review before reuse.

4

Searchable PDF output needs extra review

Text output is safer to review than invisible text-layer placement. Searchable PDF OCR should only be offered when visual alignment, page rotation, file size, extraction, and confidence checks are strong.

Related tools

PDF Text Layer Checker PDF Text Layer Checker for PDF input and TEXT-LAYER-REPORT output locally in your browser. Browser-local TEXT-LAYER-REPORT Scanned PDF Detector Scanned PDF Detector for PDF input and SCAN-REPORT output locally in your browser. Browser-local SCAN-REPORT OCR Readiness Checker OCR Readiness Checker for PDF input and OCR-READINESS-REPORT output locally in your browser. Browser-local OCR-READINESS-REPORT PDF Scan Quality Report PDF Scan Quality Report for PDF input and SCAN-QUALITY-REPORT output locally in your browser. Browser-local SCAN-QUALITY-REPORT Image Text Quality Checker Image Text Quality Checker for JPG, JPEG, PNG, or WEBP input and OCR-QUALITY-REPORT output locally in your browser. Browser-local OCR-QUALITY-REPORT PDF to Text PDF to Text for PDF input and TXT output with temporary server processing. Temporary upload TXT PDF OCR PDF OCR for PDF input and PDF, or TXT output with temporary server processing. Temporary upload PDF

Next

Convurter runtime modes explained Understand browser-local tools, static tools, server lookups, and temporary upload-backed jobs on Convurter. Current limits by tool family Review practical Convurter limits for browser-local tools, temporary server jobs, OCR, Office conversion, image tools, archives, and network lookups. Supported and unsupported formats Review how Convurter handles supported file formats, lookalike extensions, browser decoding, temporary jobs, and unsupported variants.