Germany National ID Card

Extract data from Germany National ID Card (Personalausweis) with high accuracy using our advanced OCR technology.

Request Parameters

Required Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
image	File	✅	ID card image file (JPG, PNG, WebP, max 10MB)
documentType	String	✅	Must be de_id_card

Response Format

Success Response (200 OK)

{
  "lastName": "MÜLLER",
  "firstName": "ERIKA",
  "documentNumber": "L01X00T28",
  "dateOfBirth": "1990-01-01",
  "nationality": "DEUTSCH",
  "placeOfBirth": "BERLIN",
  "expiryDate": "2030-01-01",
  "issueDate": "2020-01-01",
  "issuingAuthority": "STADT BERLIN",
  "address": "PLATZ DER REPUBLIK 1, 11011 BERLIN",
  "eyeColor": "BLAU",
  "height": "170",
  "mrz": "IDD<<L01X00T28<..."
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
lastName	string	Last name
firstName	string	First name
documentNumber	string	Document number
dateOfBirth	string	Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD)
nationality	string	Nationality
placeOfBirth	string	Place of birth
expiryDate	string	Expiry date (YYYY-MM-DD)
issueDate	string	Issue date (YYYY-MM-DD)
issuingAuthority	string	Issuing authority
address	string	Full address
eyeColor	string	Eye color
height	string	Height in cm
mrz	string	Machine Readable Zone

Code Examples

cURL

curl -X POST "https://pictotext.io/api/v1/ocr" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_123456789abcdef" \
  -F "image=@germany_id.jpg" \
  -F "documentType=de_id_card"

JavaScript (Browser)

async function processGermanIDCard(imageFile, apiKey) {
  const formData = new FormData();
  formData.append('image', imageFile);
  formData.append('documentType', 'de_id_card');

  try {
    const response = await fetch('https://pictotext.io/api/v1/ocr', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${apiKey}`
      },
      body: formData
    });

    if (!response.ok) {
      const error = await response.json();
      throw new Error(error.error.message);
    }

    return await response.json();
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error processing ID card:', error);
    throw error;
  }
}

Python

import requests
import os

def extract_german_id_data(image_path, api_key):
    """Extract data from German ID card image"""

    url = 'https://pictotext.io/api/v1/ocr'
    headers = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {api_key}'}

    try:
        with open(image_path, 'rb') as f:
            files = {
                'image': (os.path.basename(image_path), f, 'image/jpeg')
            }
            data = {'documentType': 'de_id_card'}

            response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, files=files, data=data, timeout=30)
            response.raise_for_status()

            return response.json()

    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"Request failed: {e}")
        if hasattr(e, 'response') and e.response is not None:
            print(f"Status code: {e.response.status_code}")
            print(f"Error response: {e.response.text}")
        return None

Node.js

const FormData = require('form-data');
const fs = require('fs');
const axios = require('axios');

async function processIDCard(imagePath, apiKey) {
  const formData = new FormData();
  formData.append('image', fs.createReadStream(imagePath));
  formData.append('documentType', 'de_id_card');

  try {
    const response = await axios.post('https://pictotext.io/api/v1/ocr', formData, {
      headers: {
        ...formData.getHeaders(),
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${apiKey}`
      }
    });

    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    if (error.response) {
      console.error('API Error:', error.response.data);
    }
    throw error;
  }
}

Related Documentation

• Authentication Guide - API key management
• Error Reference - Complete error codes
• Rate Limits - Usage limits and quotas
• All Germany Documents - Other German documents

Python

import requests
import os

def extract_german_id_data(image_path, api_key):
    url = 'https://pictotext.io/api/v1/ocr'
    headers = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {api_key}'}
    try:
        with open(image_path, 'rb') as f:
            files = {'image': (os.path.basename(image_path), f)}
            data = {'documentType': 'de_id_card'}
            response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, files=files, data=data, timeout=30)
            response.raise_for_status()
            return response.json()
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"Request failed: {e}")
        return None