Picture Text

Specific computer services rely on multiple types of resources, which can be text or pictures. For instance, not all email clients let you upload attachments or include signatures, even though it’s mandatory for you to do this. Luckily, and option is to use specialized applications like Picture Text, which can generate a code out of a picture, which can then be converted back into a picture.

Before you can enjoy all the application has to offer, you need to be sure that Java Runtime Environment is on your computer. This means it’s not really tied to the Windows operating system, and is able to run on other devices as long as they’re equipped with Java. It doesn’t require installation, so you can carry it around on a thumb drive.

The interface is minimalistic and doesn’t really pose any accommodation problems. Both the encode and decode functions are found in the same window, delimited by a separator. Triggering one of them is done at the press of a button, action which brings up a browse dialog to either load a source picture, or save the extracted image to your PC.

What the application does is convert an input picture to text, so it can be distributed and revealed on other computers. This comes as a neat method of sharing in case the service you’re using doesn’t allow uploading pictures or any kind of format. The original picture doesn’t even need to leave your computer or be copied anywhere.

The code needs to be manually copied somewhere safe, because it’s the only way to build it again. Decoding is only done through the application. Once the code is provided, you’re asked to save the picture somewhere, with a preview window showing up afterwards. Sadly, the image is resized in the process, so there’s a high chance wallpapers and large pictures are not properly built back.

In conclusion, Picture Text is an efficient method of sharing files over the web, especially through email clients and other services which don’t support file upload. The application is required on both the source and destination computers to be able to decode the text back into a picture. Sadly, the result might not always be as expected.