Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that converts different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents or images, into editable and searchable data. It uses algorithms to identify and extract text from images, making it easier to digitize printed materials. OCR is widely used in various applications, including digitizing books, automating data entry, and processing invoices. By transforming physical text into digital format, OCR helps improve efficiency and accessibility, allowing users to search and edit documents without retyping them.