Image translation
Image translation recognizes text inside webpage images and overlays the translation on the image. It is off by default and can be enabled in settings. Once enabled, hover over an image for about 0.6 seconds to reveal a faint icon in its lower-left corner. The icon becomes clear when you hover over it; click to translate.
The hover entry skips common avatars, icons, logos, emoji, video previews, and small images where it can identify them. Video previews on sites such as X/Twitter can be skipped before playback starts, using player or thumbnail markers. Enlarging a small image may still leave the entry hidden. If an image you want to translate has no icon, use its context menu or open a clear original and try again.
Translate one image
- Make sure image translation is enabled. Click the icon near the image’s lower-left corner, or use the image’s context menu.
- For a new source language, follow the prompt to download its recognition pack and translate.
- Wait for recognition and translation. Choose cancel if you want to stop.
- Switch between original and translated image, or open Text in a separate reading panel. Compare the recognized original and translation, and copy either the translation or both. Long text remains readable even for small images.
Canceling a translation does not remove downloaded language packs. Later images can reuse them. If text stays unchanged, you can still read and copy the recognized result.
Language settings show the packs needed for your source language, downloaded packs, and active tasks first. Expand other languages as needed. Download progress is shown per pack; you can leave the settings page and return later. Completed packs are kept when another pack fails. Retrying downloads only missing packs. Removed packs need to be downloaded again.
If the translation connection is interrupted, it retries once automatically and remains cancelable. If it still fails, choose Retry. After an extension update or reload, refresh the webpage before trying again.
Cross-origin images
Images on public HTTPS CDNs can also be translated. When the webpage cannot read their pixels, the extension verifies the currently selected image and reads it without login credentials. Canceling, changing the image, or leaving the page invalidates the previous request.
Images that require login credentials, redirect to another address, or use local or intranet sources may be unreadable. Try area translation for visible text. Files over 16 MiB, access refusals, and non-image responses report their specific cause.
Choose the source language
Choose the recognition source language in the language-pack manager. This setting is shared with webpage and area translation. The recognition pack must match the image’s language. Automatic detection prepares Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, and Japanese by default. Other supported languages require selecting the source language and downloading its pack.
When the source language is automatic or Japanese, the Japanese pack recognizes both horizontal and vertical text. Vertical columns in a manga speech bubble are joined right to left into one passage before translation.
The current translation service and target language are used. Hover and context-menu entries can be turned off separately in image settings.
Small or blurry text?
Open a clear original if possible. Decorative fonts, complex backgrounds, tables, and vertical text in languages other than Japanese are harder to recognize. Check names, numbers, and units.
Long translations may appear small inside the picture; use the text view to read them fully. Background repairs may leave marks, and you can always restore the original.
For one small part, try area translation. Unreadable image sources and restricted pages may not work.
What gets sent?
Recognition happens locally. Recognized text goes to the selected translation service; image pixels are not uploaded as part of text translation. Initial language-pack downloads require a network connection. See Data & privacy.