Get optical character recognition (OCR) insights

OCR extracts text from images, such as pictures, street signs, and products in media files to create insights.

OCR extracts insights from printed and handwritten text in over 50 languages, including from an image with text in multiple languages. For more information, see OCR supported languages.

For more information about OCR, see OCR technology.

OCR use cases

• Deep searching media footage for images with signposts, street names, or car license plates, for example, in law enforcement.
• Extracting text from images in media files and then translating it into multiple languages in labels for accessibility, for example in media or entertainment.
• Detecting brand names in images and tagging them for translation purposes, for example in advertising and branding.
• Extracting text in images that is then automatically tagged and categorized for accessibility and future usage, for example to generate content at a news agency.
• Extracting text in warnings in online instructions and then translating the text to comply with local standards, for example, e-learning instructions for using equipment.

View the insight JSON with the web portal

After you upload and index a video, download insights in JSON format from the web portal.

1. Select the Library tab.
2. Select the media you want.
3. Select Download, and then select Insights (JSON). The JSON file opens in a new browser tab.
4. Find the key pair described in the example response.

Use the API

1. Use a Get Video Index request. Pass &includeSummarizedInsights=false.
2. Find the key pairs described in the example response.

Example response

    "ocr": [
        {
          "id": 1,
          "text": "2017 Ruler",
          "confidence": 0.4365,
          "left": 901,
          "top": 3,
          "width": 80,
          "height": 23,
          "angle": 0,
          "language": "en-US",
          "instances": [
            {
              "adjustedStart": "0:00:45.5",
              "adjustedEnd": "0:00:46",
              "start": "0:00:45.5",
              "end": "0:00:46"
            },
            {
              "adjustedStart": "0:00:55",
              "adjustedEnd": "0:00:55.5",
              "start": "0:00:55",
              "end": "0:00:55.5"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "id": 2,
          "text": "2017 Ruler postppu - PowerPoint",
          "confidence": 0.4712,
          "left": 899,
          "top": 4,
          "width": 262,
          "height": 48,
          "angle": 0,
          "language": "en-US",
          "instances": [
            {
              "adjustedStart": "0:00:44.5",
              "adjustedEnd": "0:00:45",
              "start": "0:00:44.5",
              "end": "0:00:45"
            }
          ]
        }

Sample code

See all samples for VI