Does Chinese character recognition handle both Simplified and Traditional?

Yes. Both Simplified (mainland China, Singapore) and Traditional (Taiwan, Hong Kong) Chinese characters are recognized natively. The output preserves whichever script is in the source image.

How accurate is Chinese character recognition?

Over 95% character accuracy on clean printed Chinese — matching or beating Google Vision and Adobe Acrobat in our benchmarks. Handwritten Chinese reaches 81% accuracy.

Does Chinese character recognition handle vertical text?

Yes. Both horizontal (left-to-right) and vertical (top-to-bottom) Chinese layouts are detected and processed correctly — important for classical texts, calligraphy, and traditional signs.

Is Chinese character recognition free?

Yes. Free for 20 pages per day with a free account. Pro plans ($10/month) unlock 3,000 pages monthly.

Can Chinese character recognition handle mixed Chinese-English content?

Yes. Mixed CJK and Latin content is common — our engine handles it natively without configuration, preserving the original character order.

Chinese Character Recognition

Chinese character recognition — free online. Extract Simplified and Traditional Chinese text from images with 95%+ accuracy. No signup needed.

Quick Answer

Chinese character recognition uses AI OCR to extract Simplified and Traditional Chinese text from images, PDFs, and photos. Upload a file containing Chinese script, and editable text appears in about 2 seconds. Over 95% character accuracy on printed material — beating Google Vision on CJK benchmarks. Free for 20 pages per day. Handles horizontal and vertical layouts, handwritten Chinese (81% accuracy), and mixed Chinese-English content.

95%+

Printed Chinese accuracy

81%

Handwritten Chinese

Yes

Vertical text support

Simplified + Traditional

Scripts handled

How to use chinese character recognition

Upload your Chinese document

Drop any image or PDF containing Simplified or Traditional Chinese. Book pages, menus, signs, notes, contracts all work.

Let the engine process

Chinese script is auto-detected. Both horizontal and vertical text layouts are handled correctly. Processing takes about 2 seconds per page.

Copy the output

Extracted Chinese text is ready to copy, translate, or save. The output preserves character order and line structure from the original.

Common use cases

Scenarios where this tool saves time and delivers accurate, copyable text.

Academic translation

Researchers extract Chinese text from historical documents, papers, or books before translating into English or other languages.

Travel and menus

Visitors to China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong use Chinese character recognition on signs, menus, and tickets to understand foreign text.

Chinese language learning

Students extract Chinese characters from flashcards, textbooks, or practice materials to paste into dictionary apps or study tools.

Business documents

Companies digitize Chinese-language contracts, invoices, and correspondence from mainland partners or Taiwanese suppliers.

Why ScanRead

AI-powered accuracy

We use PP-OCRv5, a state-of-the-art open-source model that matches Google Vision and Adobe Acrobat on printed text (95-99% accuracy) and outperforms both on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean documents.

No signup needed

Try up to 10 pages per day without creating an account. Create a free account for 20 pages per day. No credit card required.

100+ languages

Works with 100+ languages including English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and Russian. Automatic language detection.

Frequently asked questions

Try the chinese character recognition tool now — free

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