What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that converts text from images, scanned documents, and videos into a digitally editable format, enabling computers to read, edit, and search this information. It is widely used for tasks such as automated data entry, document digitization, text extraction, and enhancing accessibility for visually impaired individuals. OCR systems typically involve image pre-processing, text detection, layout analysis, text recognition, and language modeling to accurately translate visual text into machine-readable data. While traditional OCR systems like Tesseract rely on rule-based methods, modern approaches utilize deep learning techniques, such as Convolutional Neural Networks and Transformers, to improve accuracy and efficiency. Despite its advantages, OCR faces challenges with handwritten text recognition and sensitivity to image quality. Nevertheless, OCR remains a crucial technology in automating data processes and improving document management, with its adaptability and multilingual support positioning it as an essential component of current and future technological advancements.