Have you ever opened a PDF document and wondered why you cannot simply extract a piece of content you want out of this file? Perhaps you needed the text to
Have you ever opened a PDF document and wondered why you cannot simply extract a piece of content you want out of this file? Perhaps you needed the text to edit, or perhaps you just required the images in the text. Those are where two different technologies which are often mixed up are OCR and image extraction. They sound similar, right? However, their problems actually are very different.
But what is the actual distinction between OCR and image extraction- and which one is better to use? Let’s simplify it in a no-technobabble fashion.
What is OCR?
OCR is an abbreviated version of Optical Character Recognition. Fancy it may sound, but it is a very simple idea. OCR is utilized when the text is present in an image or a scanned document that does not allow selecting or editing.
Imagine a book page that has been scanned or the image of a print receipt. You are able to read the words but not copy-pasting. Annoying, right? This is where OCR can be used.
OCR software will scan the text within an image or scanned PDF and will extract it in the form of machine-readable text. After processing, it is possible to search, copy, edit, and even translate that text. Very handy, particularly in the case of students, researchers, and businesses that handle paperwork.
However, here is the question: what is in case you do not need the text at all?
What is Image Extraction?
However, extraction of images is far easier. It is not concerned about the text, but about the visual content: photos, graphics, charts, logos, illustrations, and images embedded into documents.
Open a PDF report, and you need only the charts to make a presentation. Or retrieval product images on a catalog. It is not that you do not want the text; you want the good quality and original resolution of the images.
And yes, Using AI-based tools, users can accurately extract images from PDF even from scanned documents. This has brought image extraction much more reliable than before.
OCR vs image extraction
It is at this point that people usually get confused. The image can be extracted, and OCR can be performed on the same file, such as a scanned PDF. However, they fulfill varied requirements.
Ask yourself:
Would I desire the characters of this file?
Or do I desire visual things?
OCR is your cure in case you are in need of words.
In case it is visual, then extraction of images is the choice.
Let us consider an example of real life.
You are a marketer that downloads a brochure of the rival as PDF. You might ask:
Would it be possible to use their images as inspiration?
Can I deconstruct the text that they have written?
For the text? It is extracted and analyzed with the help of OCR.
For the images? Image pulling gets them out in a classy manner.
Same document. Two entirely dissimilar tasks.
What is the issue of Accuracy and Quality?
This is another significant difference.
The accuracy of the OCR is strongly dependent on:
Image quality
Font style
Language
Scan clarity
Image extraction on the other hand is aimed at maintaining visual quality. Images can be extracted using good tools without compression, distortion, or loss of resolution. That is important to designers, content creators, and publishers. Once extracted, these images can be further refined using tools like a free image background remover to isolate specific elements or prepare them for presentations and marketing materials.
Can OCR extract images too?
Short answer: No, not really.
OCR may see pictures, but it does not intend to recognize them but rather to overlook them and concentrate on text. It will not come up with neat and reusable image files.
Image extracting software is designed to do this task. They comprehend layouts, inbuilt graphics, and even strata in PDFs.
That is, in case you are saying to yourself, I will just use OCR to do everything, you may want to reconsider that.
Which of them is more Suitable in Business?
Honestly? It depends on the workflow.
Even legal and finance departments tend to use OCR to scan contracts and invoices.
Designers and marketers tend towards image extraction of resources and pictures.
Both- OCR to take notes and images to extract diagrams can be used by researchers and students.
The most intelligent thing is not to decide which one to choose instead of the other, but to be aware of when to apply which.
What is the Importance of this Difference Anyway?
You may ask yourself, is this, in any way significant? Absolutely.
It is time wasting when you are using OCR where you need images.
Image extraction is not going to give results when you require text.
Knowing the difference will assist you in:
Work faster
Get better-quality outputs
Avoid unnecessary tools
Improve productivity
Effectiveness is more than ever in a digital-first world.
Final thoughts
OCR and image extraction are usually used interchangeably; however, they are very different. OCR is a breakthrough on the text that is hidden in images and scans. Image extraction releases pictures out of documents so that they may be utilized, edited, or examined again.
The next time you are opening a PDF and wonder to yourself, what is it that I need out of this file? you will have an idea of what kind of tool to select.
Since at times, it is not the file, but what you are intending to remove it.
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