✅ Best results: select 4–10 characters
(one line of text).
The crop step is the single most important factor in getting an accurate result. Spend 5 extra seconds here and our AI matches the right font in the next steps.
Four to ten characters is the sweet spot. With fewer than 4 the AI doesn't have enough shape information; with more than 10 the splitter can mis-segment touching letters and hurt accuracy. A single word that's 5-8 characters long usually works perfectly.
Leave a small margin — about half a letter-height of space on each side. Too tight and you may clip the descenders (g, j, p, q, y) which the AI uses to disambiguate fonts. Too loose and the background dominates the image. The crop tool shows a live preview — adjust until the text fills most of the box.
Yes. The next step (Optimize) lets you invert the colours so the AI always sees dark letters on a light background. You don't need to invert anything yourself before the crop — just select the text region as it is.
Small tilts (under 5°) are fine. For larger angles, use the rotation slider on the Optimize step before the AI matches. If the text wraps around a curve or is in 3D perspective, the match is going to be approximate no matter what — try to find a flatter sample of the same font instead.
Pick one font per identification. WhatFontIs matches the dominant font in the crop; mixing two fonts in the same selection will return results from a single "average" guess that matches neither. If you need both fonts, do two separate identifications — one crop per font.
Heavily stylised lettering is the hardest case for any font ID tool. Try these: pick the cleanest example you can find in the source image; crop tight to avoid decorative strokes; on the Optimize step boost contrast to make the letter shapes pop. If results are still off, check the "I feel lucky" mode (top of the homepage) which skips the strict character split.
Yes — the back button is enabled on every step. Re-crop, change which characters you include, or try a different sample of the same font. We don't charge anything until you sign up for PRO, so iterating is free.
Only mild sharpening helps; aggressive sharpening creates artifacts the splitter picks up as fake serifs. The Optimize step has a built-in sharpen/contrast pair that's tuned for font ID — use that instead of a separate editor.
Still stuck? Visit the Getting Started guide for a walkthrough with screenshots, or post the image to our community forum — there's usually someone willing to help with hard cases.
The optimize step lets you fine-tune the image so the AI sees crisp letter shapes. Most fonts are matched on the FIRST attempt if the optimize step is done right.
Hit the Invert button if your text is light on a dark background (white on black, yellow on navy, etc.). The AI is trained on dark letters on white background - give it that shape and matching becomes far more reliable.
Increase contrast to widen the gap between letters, or use stretch to add horizontal space. On the next step (Enter Characters) you can also drag a merged image to split it manually, or leave the box empty and rely on the other letters.
No - on the next step you can drag the dot back onto the stem to combine them. The AI handles re-joined glyphs the same as natively whole ones.
Stretch widens or narrows the letters horizontally. Useful for fonts that look compressed or expanded in the source image but you suspect the actual font is normal-width. Try +20% if letters look squished, -20% if they look stretched.
That link runs an AI mask that removes the background and keeps only the letters - handy for text on photos or busy patterns. Use it when contrast tweaks alone can't separate the letters from the background.
Yes - PREV STEP button at the top brings you back to the crop. If the split looks wrong here, a tighter crop is often the fastest fix.
Red highlight means the splitter is unsure that's a real letter - usually because it's only a fragment or it overlaps the neighbour. Tweak contrast or re-crop tighter. If it stays red after tweaking, leave that box empty on the next step.
Need a walkthrough with screenshots? See the Getting Started guide.
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