How to Translate an Image With AI

Text often appears inside images — on street signs, product labels, forms, menus, screenshots, and more. When the text is in a different language, viewers outside of that native language may struggle to understand what the image is trying to convey. Today’s AI models are evolving toward more advanced and diverse data processing capabilities across text, audio, and video.[1]

Today’s AI can revolutionize how you translate and localize visualcontent, enabling instant multilingual adaptation for global audiences. Images with embedded text are a pain to update. Designers must recreate each version manually, which slows down production and increases costs. Solutions like Smartcat AI Agents  automate the translation and recreation process, so you can move faster without sacrificing brand consistency.

This guide explains the process of recognizing, extracting, and translating the text found inside images, what tools are used, and how to get accurate results.

• Image translation uses OCR technology to extract text from pictures, and then AI can detect languages and translate that text while preserving the original layout and context.

• AI solutions such as Smartcat’s Image Agent detects and translates text inside image files, then rebuilds the image with the translated content in place— no manual design work is needed.

• High-quality, well-lit images with clear text produce the best translation results, making proper file preparation essential for accuracy.

Smith+Nephew accelerate their global content production using an enterprise AI platform.

Translating an image means changing the written text inside the image into another language. The image itself, its designs, colors, or shapes, is not translated, only the words are.

This translation is facilitated using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). OCR is a type of software that finds and extracts text from an image file.

Once the text is extracted, AI translation tools can translate it into the desired language. This step is separate from OCR but often happens in the same workflow.

People use photo translators for many everyday situations, including:

• Localizing text in social graphics, infographics, and in-training visuals

• Reading foreign street signs while traveling

• Understanding product labels in another language

• Translating screenshots of foreign websites

• Reading menus at international restaurants

• Converting scanned documents into editable, translatable text

Before translating text in an image, proper preparation helps ensure accurate results. The quality of your image directly affects how well the text can be recognized and translated.

When working with multiple images, good organization makes the process smoother and helps prevent mistakes.

• Use clear file names that include the date and language (example: 2025-06-11-japanese-sign.jpg)

• Create separate folders for original images and translated results

• Group similar images together (all menus in one folder, all signs in another)

• For large projects, prepare images for batch processing to translate pictures or photos more efficiently

The clearer your image, the better the translation results will be. Poor image quality often leads to errors in text recognition.

Image resolution: Higher resolution images (at least 300 dpi) allow OCR to detect text more accurately.

Lighting and contrast: Good lighting and strong contrast between text and background improve recognition rates.

Text position: Text that's straight and not angled works best for OCR systems.

File formats: Standard formats like JPG, PNG, and PDF are widely supported by translation tools.

Removing unnecessary parts of an image helps the OCR system focus on what matters— the text.

• Crop out irrelevant background elements

• Make sure the text isn't cut off at the edges

• If an image has multiple text sections, consider processing them separately

• Remove or minimize watermarks that might overlap with important text

Whether you're using a computer, tablet, or smartphone, the process of translating text from images follows similar steps. Here's how to do it:

Several platforms offer image translation features. Smartcat provides a comprehensive Image Agent that handles image text translation along with other content types.

When selecting a tool to translate your images, consider:

• The languages you need (some tools support more language pairs than others)

• How many images you plan to translate

• Whether you need to save or export the translations

• If you want the translation to maintain the original layout

Uploading your images is usually straightforward:

Smartcat’s Image Agent translates a wide range of image formats including PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, PCX, JP2, JPC, JFIF, TIF, TIFF, and, GIF, and more. If you have an unsupported format, you can convert it before uploading. When you translate from picture or image sources, the file size limit is typically around 10–20MB per image.

After uploading, you'll need to tell the system which languages to work with:

• Select the source language (what's in the image) or use auto-detect

• Choose the target language (what you want it translated to)

• Batch translate to multiple languages at once if needed

Popular language pairs include Japanese to Korean, Chinese to English, Spanish to French, Greek to Italian, and Portuguese to Spanish, to name a few options. Smartcat’s Image Agent supports 280+ languages.

Once languages are selected, the system processes your image in two steps:

1. OCR will extract and copy text from the image

2. AI translation converts the text to your target language

Many tools show you the extracted text before translation, allowing you to correct any OCR errors. This improves the final translation quality.

Smartcat’s Image Agent includes user-friendly functions including:

• Built-in editing: change font family, formatting, color, size, positioning, and size of text boxes

• Single or bulk image upload: process images individually or in batches.

• "Hide" functionality for translation zones (e.g. logos)

Support for:

• 10+ common image file formats 

• 50+ fonts

• Any color

• 280+ languages

Edit live preview of the image

Smartcat’s Image Agent also allows you to edit the live preview of the image once translated into your desired language.

After translation, you can typically:

• View the translated text alongside the original image

• Download the translation as text or in a document format

• Save an overlay image with the translated text in the original position

• Share the results via email or a link

Not all images are easy to translate. Certain elements pose challenges for even the best translation systems.

Decorative fonts: Fancy or artistic fonts often confuse OCR systems. The more standard and clear the font, the better the recognition will be. Handwritten text is particularly challenging, though modern AI is getting better at recognizing it.

Text in graphics: When text is part of a design element or logo, OCR may struggle to separate it from the background. In these cases, you might need to manually enter some text.

Multiple columns: Documents with columns or complex layouts might be read out of order. The system might jump between columns rather than reading each one separately.

Mixed languages: Images containing more than one language can confuse translation systems. For example, a product label with both English and Japanese text might need special handling to ensure each section is translated correctly.

To handle these challenges:

• Use the highest quality images possible

• Try cropping complex images into simpler sections

• Review the extracted text before translation

• Be prepared to make manual adjustments for unusual layouts

A glossary is a list of important terms and their approved translations. For businesses and organizations, this helps maintain consistency across all translated content.

When translating images that contain your brand name, product names, or specialized terminology, a glossary ensures these terms are handled correctly every time. For example, product names usually stay the same in all languages, while descriptive terms get translated.

Smartcat allows you to create and maintain glossaries that work across all your translation projects— including image translation. When the system encounters a term in your glossary, it applies the approved translation automatically.

Repetitive tasks that previously absorbed valuable human resources can now be handled by intelligent automation solutions. This frees up your team to focus on higher-value activities like strategic planning, customer relationship management, and innovation.[2]

While AI translation has improved dramatically, having a human reviewer check the results is still valuable— especially for important content.

Reviewers can:

• Catch and fix any OCR errors that affected the translation

• Ensure the translation matches the context of the image

• Adjust phrasing to sound more natural in the target language

• Maintain brand voice and style across translations

You can invite collaborators into the platform to edit the image translations for you. There is no limit on the number of collaborators you want to add to your projects, as Smartcat doesn’t charge for additional user seats.

You can also hire professional reviewers within the Smartcat platform via Smartcat Marketplace— one of the world’s largest networks of vetted experts (500,000+). They can review your translated content for accuracy.

After translating text from images, checking the results helps ensure quality and consistency. This is especially important for business or professional content.

Here's what to look for when reviewing translated images:

Accuracy check: Compare the translated text with the original to make sure all content was captured and translated correctly.

Terminology consistency: Verify that specific terms are translated the same way across all your images and other content.

Formatting issues: Check that numbers, dates, and special characters appear correctly in the translation.

Cultural appropriateness: Ensure the translation fits the cultural context of your target audience.

A simple checklist can help with this process:

• Is all text from the image included in the translation?

• Are brand names and product names handled correctly?

• Do dates, numbers, and measurements follow the target country's format?

• Does the translation fit the context shown in the image?

• Would the translation make sense to someone from the target culture?

Using a single platform for all your translation needs, including image translation, offers several advantages:

• Consistent terminology across all content types

• Shared translation memory that improves over time

• Easier project management and tracking

• Better learning for AI systems with more diverse examples

When your image translations live in the same system as your document, website, and other content translations, the AI technology gets smarter and faster. It can apply what it learns from one format to others, improving overall quality.

Scale Up with an AI-Based Global Content Platform

For businesses and organizations working with content in multiple languages, image translation is often just one piece of a larger puzzle. An integrated approach helps maintain consistency across all content types. In 2023, several studies assessed AI’s impact on labor, suggesting that AI enables workers to complete tasks more quickly and to improve the quality of their output.[3]

Smartcat's Image Agent translates text in image files across 280+ languages— while preserving your layout, design integrity, and brand voice.

Smartcat uses expert-enabled AI Agents to automate content creation, translation, and localization, helping global teams launch consistent, high-quality content faster across every market in the world.

• One-Step Solution: Maintains your original design and delivers images that look native in 280+ languages.

• Speed meets Precision: AI translation instantly processes single or bulk image projects while maintaining your brand's message.

• Your Brand, Always Learning: Our AI continuously adapts to your brand voice and expert feedback, ensuring consistent translations across all content.

• Complete Creative Control: Built-in tools let you fine-tune translated images without switching platforms.

• AI + Human Curation: Blend AI efficiency with expert oversight to accelerate workflows while ensuring quality.

An AI-based global content platform connects image translation with other content workflows, including:

• Website localization

• Document translation

• Marketing materials

• Product descriptions

• Customer support content

Using a single platform like Smartcat, teams can translate text in images alongside other content types. This integrated approach ensures consistent terminology, style, and brand voice across all materials.

Babbel’s localization team decided they needed a more streamlined and centralized approach to translation and localization that would eliminate manual steps like copying and pasting between platforms, lengthy vendor sourcing, and payments. By using the holistic, all-in-one Smartcat enterprise language AI platform, they were able to improve workflow efficiencies and get more multilingual content in less time.

Smartcat's AI Agents learn from every project, continuously improving translation quality for images and all other content. This learning happens across languages and content types, creating a powerful feedback loop that enhances results over time.

Image quality directly impacts how well the OCR system can recognize text. Higher resolution, good lighting, and clear contrast between text and background lead to more accurate text extraction and better translations.

Handwritten text can be translated, but accuracy varies based on how neat and clear the writing is. Modern OCR systems can handle legible handwriting, but results may not be perfect for cursive or messy writing.

To translate text from a screenshot, save the screenshot as an image file (PNG or JPG), upload it to an image translation tool, select your languages, and process the translation. Screenshots typically produce good results because they have clear, digital text.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is the technology that extracts text from images, while image translation is the complete process of extracting and then translating that text. OCR is just the first step in image translation.

Most image translation platforms allow batch processing. Within the Smartcat Workspace, upload multiple images, select the source language for each (or use auto-detect), choose your target language(s), and process them all at once. This saves time when working with many images.

Common image formats like JPG, PNG, and PDF work best for image translation. These formats maintain text clarity while keeping file sizes manageable. Vector formats like SVG may not work with all translation tools.

Yes, scanned documents can be translated using the same process as other images. For multi-page documents, some platforms allow uploading the entire PDF, while others require processing each page separately.

AI translation accuracy for specialized content depends on the system's training data. Systems that learn from corrections and use glossaries typically perform better with technical, legal, or industry-specific terminology.

1. Mayer, Hannah, et al. “Superagency in the Workplace: Empowering People to Unlock AI’s Full Potential.” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 28 Jan. 2025, www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/superagency-in-the-workplace-empowering-people-to-unlock-ais-full-potential-at-work.

2. Nagarajan, Prakash. “The Impact of Intelligent Automation on Cost Savings.” Integra, 8 May 2024, integranxt.com/blog/impact-of-intelligent-automation-on-cost-savings/.

3. “The 2024 AI Index Report: Stanford Hai.” Home, hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2024-ai-index-report. Accessed 17 June 2025.