Translate Text and Pictures

A free translator that can work without sending your text anywhere

Type or paste text, pick the language to translate into and press Translate. Leave From on Detect language and the language is worked out for you. You can also translate the text in a photo, screenshot or PDF: add it under Text from a picture and its words are read in your browser first.

Two ways to translate

• On this device. Newer versions of Chrome and Edge on a computer come with a translator built into the browser. The first time you translate a language pair the browser downloads a language pack, and after that the translation happens on your own computer: your text never leaves it, there is no daily limit, and it even works offline. The green badge under the button says when this was used.
• Online. Other browsers (Firefox, Safari, phones, older Chrome) have no built-in translator, so the page sends the text to the free MyMemory translation service (translated.net) and shows its answer. The orange badge says when this happened. MyMemory allows about 5,000 characters a day for each visitor; long texts are sent a few sentences at a time.

The Engine menu lets you choose: Auto uses the device when it can and the online service otherwise, On this device only never sends anything, and Online always uses MyMemory.

Questions

Is it really private?

With the on-device engine, yes: the text, the picture and the translation stay in your browser. With the online engine the text (not the picture) is sent to MyMemory, which may keep it in its translation memory, so don't use it for passwords, medical or legal documents. Pictures are always read on your device. Your history is kept only in this browser and you can clear it.

Which browsers translate on the device?

Google Chrome 138 and newer on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, and recent Microsoft Edge. Chrome needs some free disk space for the language packs. Chrome on Android and iPhone, Safari and Firefox don't offer it to web pages yet, so they use the online service.

Why does "translate as I type" only work on the device?

Translating while you type would send every few words to the online service, which uses up the daily limit and sends half-finished text. So online translations only happen when you press the button.

How good are the translations?

Both engines are machine translation: good for understanding a text and for everyday messages, not a replacement for a professional translator for contracts or anything published.

Can I share a translation?

Copy link makes a link with the languages and the text (up to 1,500 characters) in it. Nothing is stored on a server: the text is in the link itself.

Which languages work?

The lists have about 85 languages. The on-device translator covers the most common ones and the page tells you when a pair isn't available on your device. Right-to-left languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Urdu are shown right to left.

Tips for pictures

• Set Language in the picture to the language of the text: the reader needs it to recognise the letters (Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and others each have their own data, downloaded once).
• Sharp, straight, well-lit photos read best. Crop to the text if the photo has a busy background.
• Fix any wrong words in the Text found box before translating. Click boxes on the picture to translate only some lines.

Only need the text from a picture? The Image to Text (OCR) page puts the picture first.