Magic Translate

Hey PH!

I built Magic Translate - a web app that allows you to translate text on images in over 100+ languages.

Magic Translate is designed to work with images with burned-in text. All you need to do upload is your original image, and Magic Translate will do the rest. No design files required.

Right now Magic Translate works on Desktop, with mobile experience coming soon!

Why I built this?

I work in the advertising industry, and one thing I’ve seen over and over is how hard it is to localize creative assets quickly. There’s rarely enough time or resources to properly translate, design, and review things like images, banners, and posters before launching in new markets. Marketing teams always talk about launching "globally", which often means "English everywhere!".

That’s why I built Magic Translate - a quick and easy way to translate your assets without needing a big team or complex tools. I've already seen firsthand marketing teams using Magic Translate to generate creative assets and pitch global campaigns in literal minutes.

What's different about Magic Translate?

• Visual consistency and reliability, so the final output actually looks like the original. Current gen AI models often hallucinate key details like logos, translation and distort the image from the original.

• Quick, accurate translation work, so you can translate text in your image easily. Using design tools like Photoshop have a steep learning curve, and while powerful, it's not built for quick, accurate translation work.

Try it out live here! Would love to get your feedback - what did you like or didn't like, what's missing, etc. You can drop your thoughts in the comments here, or on the Magic Translate discord server: https://discord.gg/jmYrHs3Bdx

Here are some general tips for using Magic Translate and getting the best results:

1. Images with text overlaying clean and clear backgrounds tend to work best. Backgrounds with a lot of noise are harder to in-paint in general.

2. After uploading your image, use bounding boxes to mark distinct groups of text (e.g. group completed phrases together). Magic Translate will translate each group of text together, so for the best results, each bounded group of text should be independent of each other.

Example:

The headline, call-to-action, and body text are all separated out using bounding boxes.

3. We do not save images beyond the user's session. Please complete and download your work before navigating away from or closing Magic Translate!

FAQs:

How long does it take to translate a single image? Generally < 30 seconds per image. However, it does depend on the number of the translations requested within the image, as well as the size of the image. Because you have control over the text you target for translation, the greater the number of text groups you select, the longer it takes (linear scaling).

Does Magic Translate support any image format? Yes, Magic Translate supports any image format. However, if you experience issues with your particular image file, please ping me here or in the Discord.

Is there a maximum/minimum size for the uploaded image? Yes we enforce a maximum size of 540 px (w) by 540 px (h). If your uploaded image is larger than this, we will still process it, but will resize the final delivered image. We are working on accommodating larger image files in the near future!

How do I know my translation is correct? We leverage frontier AI models to produce each translation, which in our experience has been very high quality. However, it is best practice to double check translations via a 3rd party tool, or run by a native speaker before shipping. This is especially important if you are translating idioms (which rarely have perfect translations in other languages).

Does Magic Translate only work when starting with English? No! We support any language-to-any language. This means your starting image could be Japanese, and your desired target language could be French!

Do you support more font styles? Right now, we have support the Noto Sans family of fonts, due to their flexibility across languages. However, it is easy for us to load new fonts, so if you have a suggestion please drop a comment in the channel!

Do you store the images that uploaded? No. The images are kept in memory only long enough for processing and translation. We do not store any of your image data past the session it was uploaded. This also means that you cannot save your work and come back later. If this is a highly requested feature, we will try to build it out, but for now make sure to complete your translation/design and download the result before closing the app!

Magic Translate is a game-changer for e-commerce. It allows brands to instantly localize product images and ad creatives for global markets, dramatically cutting down the time and cost of international expansion. A must-have tool for any seller looking to scale! I'll give a try!

Great idea, often image translation is just not viable when localizing your website. This can be really helpful for infographics. P.s. I'm launching a rad product today!