Translation guide
The technology that converts images of text into machine-encoded text. In Japanese, the English abbreviation OCR is most common, but full translations exist.
Referring to the technology that recognizes text in images.
The standard term in Japanese, pronounced as the English letters. Used in software, documents, and conversation.
このソフトはOCR機能を搭載しています。
This software has an OCR function.
The full Japanese translation. Used in formal or technical writing, but less common in speech.
光学文字認識技術は近年大きく進歩した。
Optical character recognition technology has advanced greatly in recent years.
A variant with 的; slightly more formal or academic.
光学的文字認識の精度が向上している。
The accuracy of optical character recognition is improving.
Describing the process of converting an image to text.
Common phrase meaning 'to run OCR on something'.
この画像をOCRにかけてテキストを抽出してください。
Please run OCR on this image and extract the text.
Literally 'read with OCR'. Natural in instructions.
名刺をOCRで読み取って連絡先を登録する。
Scan business cards with OCR and register the contact information.
Technical phrase meaning 'to perform OCR processing'.
スキャンした文書をOCR処理して検索可能にする。
OCR-process the scanned documents to make them searchable.
In everyday Japanese, simply say OCR (オーシーアール). The full term 光学文字認識 is understood but sounds overly technical. For example, when asking if a scanner has OCR, say 「OCR機能はありますか？」.