# Read and Verify a Passport MRZ

> Drop a photo of the passport's data page or an ID card and the two or three MRZ lines are read on your device, split into fields — names, document number, nationality, birth date, sex, expiry — and every ICAO 9303 check digit is recomputed and badged valid or invalid. You can also paste or correct the MRZ text directly and the fields re-validate live. Nothing is sent anywhere, which is the entire point for a document this sensitive.


Live tool: https://lofttools.com/tools/security-tools/mrz-reader

Category: Security & Privacy

## How it works

1. **Add the document photo** — Drop a photo of the passport data page or ID card, or capture one with the camera. The MRZ strip must be sharp and unobstructed.
2. **Review the parsed fields** — The MRZ lines are read and split into fields, each check digit badge shows valid or invalid. Fix any misread character in the raw MRZ box and the fields update live.
3. **Copy the result** — Copy the structured fields as JSON or the raw MRZ lines for whatever system needs them.

## FAQ

### Which document formats are supported?

TD3 (passports, two 44-character lines), TD2 (two 36-character lines), and TD1 (ID cards, three 30-character lines) per ICAO Doc 9303. The format is detected automatically.

### What do the check digit badges mean?

Each MRZ field carries a check digit computed with the ICAO 7-3-1 algorithm. A green badge means the recomputed digit matches — the field was read correctly. A red badge means a misread character or an invalid document; fix the raw line and it re-validates.

### Why use this instead of typing the data?

Transcribing passport fields by hand is slow and error-prone in exactly the way check digits were invented to catch. Reading the MRZ and validating the digits gives you confirmed-correct data in seconds.

### Is it safe to use with a real passport?

The photo is processed entirely in your browser and discarded when you leave. No image, no field, no analytics event containing document data ever leaves your device.

## Tips

- **Fill the frame with the data page** — The closer and sharper the MRZ strip, the better the read. Avoid glare from laminate — tilt slightly away from light.
- **Red badge? Fix one character** — Check digits localize errors. Edit the raw MRZ text and watch the badge flip green when the character is right.
- **Works fully offline after first use** — The OCR model caches in the browser, so border-desk or airplane use works without a connection.

## Privacy — what we do not do

This tool runs entirely in the browser via WebAssembly. Your file never reaches a Loft Tools server. Specifically:

- **No upload.** The file bytes load into the browser tab's memory and process on your own CPU. Open DevTools → Network and observe zero outbound requests carrying file data while Read and Verify a Passport MRZ runs.
- **No AI training on your file.** Loft does not train models. We could not train on a file we cannot see.
- **No content scanning.** No virus, copyright, or content-moderation pass against your file. The bytes are not accessible to us.
- **No server-side log of file contents, filenames, or EXIF metadata.** Cloudflare edge captures URL and truncated IP for abuse defense (standard CDN behaviour). Cloudflare Web Analytics records anonymous page hits, no cookies, no PII. Nothing about your file content reaches any log.
- **No retention.** Close the tab and the file leaves browser memory. No backups exist on our side because no copy ever existed on our side.
- **No account.** No email, no signup, no auth, no telemetry tied to you.
- **Offline-capable after first visit** (PWA). Once you've loaded a tool, it caches; later sessions work without internet. For high-sensitivity files, run the tool once online to warm the cache, then disconnect before processing.

Compare with upload-based services: each transmits your file to a processing server. Even over HTTPS, each has logs, retention windows, and subpoena exposure. Loft has none of these because the server architecture does not include your file.

## More

- All tools: https://lofttools.com/tools
- Category: https://lofttools.com/tools/security-tools
- LLM index: https://lofttools.com/llms.txt