Desktop Software
Translate menus, dialogs, and interfaces across any desktop application, including legacy tools with zero localization support.
Screen Text Detection for Windows
OCR Translator
for PC
Read. Detect. Translate. Instantly.
Point Lexa at any part of your screen and get a translation overlay in seconds. Desktop apps, browsers, videos, documents, games. If you can see it, Lexa can translate it.
Free to try
No plugins needed
Works with any app
Compatibility
Translate Text Across Every Application
One tool covers your entire desktop. No per-app extensions, no switching between translators.
Browsers & Web Content
Handle text baked into images, canvas elements, or dynamically rendered pages that browser translation extensions miss entirely.
PDFs & Scanned Documents
Point at scanned documents, receipts, or image-based PDFs and get an instant translation without retyping a single word.
Looking for a translation tool built specifically for visual novels? See our dedicated VN translator page .
Under the Hood
The OCR Pipeline
Four automated stages from pixel to translated text. Local translation can run on your PC, while cloud translation helps keep realtime sessions fast.
1
Region Selection
Define the capture area: a window region, a specific panel, or the entire screen. You control exactly what Lexa monitors.
2
Screen Capture
Lexa captures the defined region at configurable intervals, or detects content changes automatically to avoid redundant processing.
3
OCR Text Extraction
Characters are extracted using optical recognition, supporting 5+ languages including CJK, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Latin scripts.
4
Translation Overlay
Translated text appears as a floating panel on top of your workflow. The overlay repositions and refreshes automatically as content changes.
The Gap
Most Translation Tools
Only Work Half the Time
Browser extensions handle web pages. Copy-paste handles selectable text. But the moment text is embedded in an image, rendered in a game, or locked inside a PDF, you're on your own.
Non-Selectable Text
Images, videos, games, and many desktop apps render text you simply cannot highlight or copy. Traditional tools are useless here.
Unsupported Languages
Plenty of software ships without your language. Browser extensions only cover web pages. Desktop apps, PDFs, and videos are left untouched.
Workflow Interruption
Switching between your app and a translator tab breaks focus. Screenshotting, cropping, and pasting burns minutes on a single sentence.
Comparison
Why OCR Instead of
Copy-Paste Translation?
Copy-paste works when text is selectable. OCR works everywhere else and it's faster even when text is selectable.
Lexa OCR
Copy-Paste
Works with non-selectable text
Yes — reads pixels directly
No — requires selectable text
Works with non-selectable text
OCR: Yes — reads pixels directly
Copy-Paste: No — requires selectable text
Speed per sentence
Fast — automatic detection
Slow — manual select, copy, paste
Speed per sentence
OCR: Fast — automatic detection
Copy-Paste: Slow — manual select, copy, paste
Application compatibility
Any app, game, or video
Only apps with copyable text
Application compatibility
OCR: Any app, game, or video
Copy-Paste: Only apps with copyable text
Continuous translation
Yes — updates as text changes
No — one sentence at a time
Continuous translation
OCR: Yes — updates as text changes
Copy-Paste: No — one sentence at a time
Advantages
Built for Practical
Desktop Use
Lexa replaces a stack of single-purpose tools with one lightweight utility that handles everything on your screen.
Zero File Modification
Lexa never injects code, installs plugins, or alters files. It operates entirely through screen capture, so your software stays untouched.
Application-Agnostic Detection
Lexa reads pixels directly from your display. No app-specific APIs, no browser extensions, no compatibility lists. If you can see it, Lexa can read it.
Smart Change Detection
Realtime mode only re-processes the capture region when text content actually changes, reducing unnecessary OCR calls and keeping system load minimal.
Optimized Capture Pipeline
The screen capture and OCR pipeline is engineered for low CPU and memory usage, so Lexa stays out of the way while running alongside resource-demanding applications.
Technical Details
Under the Hood
Technical specifications of the capture and translation pipeline.
Capture Frequency
Configurable scan interval in Realtime mode. Text-change detection avoids redundant captures, so the pipeline only runs when there is actually new text to process.
Overlay Behavior
The translation overlay stays on top of all windows and can be repositioned or resized. It updates in place without stealing focus from the active application.
Language Coverage
Over 4 source languages supported via OCR recognition, including CJK, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Latin scripts. Translate to any target language supported by the connected translation service.
Resource Efficiency
Optimized screen capture pipeline with minimal CPU and memory footprint. Designed to run alongside resource-demanding software without impacting performance.
Quick Start
Up and Running in Three Steps
No API keys, no configuration files. Install, create an account, select the target window, point, and translate.
Step 1
Open Any Application
Launch the software with foreign-language text such as a browser tab, a desktop app, a PDF reader, a video player, or a game.
Step 2
Define the Capture Region
In Lexa, draw a rectangle around the screen area containing text. Pick your source and target languages, then activate Realtime mode via the toolbar or a keyboard shortcut.
Step 3
Read the Translation Overlay
Lexa detects text changes and refreshes the overlay automatically. Switch apps, scroll, or navigate, the translation follows the content.
Live Preview
Two Translation Modes
Continuous monitoring for dynamic content, or a single-shot capture for static text. Pick the mode that fits your workflow.
FAQ
Common Questions
What you need to know about Lexa as an OCR translator for PC
An OCR translator uses Optical Character Recognition to read text directly from your screen and convert it into another language. It works with any application, even when text cannot be selected, copied, or highlighted.
Yes. Lexa reads pixels from your screen, so it works with any software that displays text: browsers, desktop apps, video players, PDF viewers, and image editors. No per-app plugins or extensions are needed.
In Realtime mode, Lexa captures and processes the defined screen region at configurable intervals. Smart change detection ensures the OCR pipeline only runs when new text actually appears, keeping response times fast and system usage low.
No. Lexa is a standalone Windows application. It does not inject code, install plugins, or modify the software you are translating. Your applications remain completely untouched.
Yes. Point Lexa at the subtitle region of any video player and it will capture, recognize, and translate the on-screen text. This works with streaming services, local video files, and any media with burned-in captions.
Yes. Lexa translates text displayed in any game window, including Steam titles, emulated retro games, and standalone executables. For visual novel–specific features like dialogue tracking and text box detection, see our dedicated visual novel translator page.
One Tool for Every
Screen Translation
Stop juggling browser extensions, document translators, and manual copy-paste. Lexa handles everything visible on your display.
No plugins
Auto-detect
Any app
Lightweight
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