Benefits
Speed up customer onboarding from minutes to seconds by eliminating manual data entry on every new registration
Reduce compliance risk with consistent, auditable extraction of identity fields for KYC and AML workflows
Handle most national ID card formats without per-country template training or configuration
Free your front-desk and back-office staff from repetitive typing so they can focus on verification decisions rather than transcription
How it works
- Step 1
Upload
Send the document to the API as a file or a URL no special formatting required.
- Step 2
The engine reads the document
The engine analyzes the page layout and identifies the content that matters. The extraction engine analyses both the visual inspection zone and the machine readable zone of the ID card, identifying and transcribing printed text fields, the MRZ line at the bottom, and the embedded photograph into a structured JSON object.
- Step 3
Structured JSON is returned
Every extracted element comes back as structured JSON, positioned and typed, ready to feed into downstream systems.
- Step 4
Confidence-based review
Each field carries a confidence score, so low-confidence results can be routed for human review instead of trusted blindly.
Example fields
A sample of what extraction can return, and many more when they appear on the document.
Features
Extracts ID fields in a single API call, such as full name, date of birth, document number, nationality, sex, place of birth, issue and expiry dates, signature, the holder's photograph, and many more
Full Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) parsing in accordance with ICAO 9303 standards, ideal for travel documents and border workflows
Accepts PDF, JPG, and PNG inputs; returns structured JSON via REST API with Python, JavaScript, and Java SDKs available
Sub-second latency on typical single-page ID cards, with parallel processing support on paid plans for high-volume throughput
GDPR-compliant by design: data stays within the EU, encrypted at rest and in transit, with optional zero-retention policies on the Enterprise plan
Use cases
KYC Onboarding for Financial Services
When a new customer opens an account, a fintech or bank needs to collect and verify identity data before proceeding. ByteIt's ID card extraction captures the customer's name, date of birth, document number, and nationality from their national ID card in under a second. The structured output can be passed directly to your identity verification stack, reducing the onboarding loop from a multi-minute manual process to a near-instant digital flow, with a human review step for high-stakes verification decisions.
Hotel and Car Rental Check-In
Hotels, car rental desks, and property managers are required by law to record guest identity details. Instead of photocopying passports and typing the data into a property management system, front-desk staff can scan the guest's national ID card with a smartphone or webcam. ByteIt extracts the full name, document number, nationality, and expiry date, and the data flows into the reservation system via API. Guests check in faster, queues shrink, and manual transcription errors disappear.
Healthcare Patient Registration
Hospitals and clinics must capture accurate patient demographics at every first visit. Scanning a patient's national ID card at the admissions desk populates the electronic health record with verified name, date of birth, sex, and address fields. This eliminates the errors introduced by asking patients to fill out paper forms or by manual typing, and it ensures that downstream billing, insurance claims, and lab orders reference the correct identity from the moment of registration.
HR Employee Onboarding and Compliance
HR departments are responsible for verifying right-to-work identity documents for every new hire. By integrating ByteIt's ID card extraction into the onboarding portal, an employee can upload a photo of their national ID card, and the system automatically populates the HRIS with their legal name, nationality, document number, and expiry date. The extracted data can be connected into your payroll or compliance systems using workflow automation tools like n8n, Zapier, or Make, creating a verifiable audit trail without manual form processing.
Age Verification in Retail and Hospitality
Bars, clubs, cannabis dispensaries, and online age-restricted marketplaces need to verify that a customer is above the legal age. Scanning a driver's licence or national ID card and extracting the date of birth and expiry date lets the system calculate the customer's age instantly and log the verification event. The process takes seconds, reduces the risk of serving minors, and provides an auditable record of every check.
LIVE DEMO
Try it yourself
Test ID card extraction live with a sample document or upload your own PDF, JPG, or PNG file to see the structured JSON output in real time.
Select a document and press Parse
Want to run it on your own documents?
Ready to dive in? Request a key to get started.Business advantages
- No per-country templates needed: one engine reads ID cards from most issuing nations
- Sub-second processing per card keeps customer-facing flows fast
- EU hosting that is ISO 27001 certified and GDPR-compliant
- Free tier to build and test your integration with your own documents
Frequently asked questions
What file formats does the ID card extraction API accept?
The API accepts PDF, JPG, and PNG files. Multi-page PDFs are supported and each page is processed independently. For best results, submit images at 300 DPI or higher with the ID card well-lit and centred in the frame.
Does the engine read the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) on ID cards?
Yes. ByteIt's extraction engine parses the MRZ line found on most national ID cards and passports that follow the ICAO 9303 standard. The parsed fields include the document number, date of birth, expiry date, nationality, and sex, all of which are validated against the format rules defined in the standard.
How accurate is the extraction on low-quality images, scans, or worn cards?
ByteIt's AI models include image pre-processing steps that correct skew, adjust contrast, and reduce noise before extraction. This improves performance on folded, creased, or poorly lit cards. As with any OCR-based system, accuracy is highest on clean, high-resolution images. For production workflows that involve worn or damaged documents, we recommend testing with a representative sample of your actual ID card types.
How do I integrate the ID card extraction into my application?
ByteIt provides a REST API and native SDKs for Python, JavaScript, and Java. You call the API with the document image as a file upload or base64-encoded string, and the response returns a structured JSON object with all extracted fields. For no-code or low-code workflows, the API output can be passed to tools like n8n, Zapier, or Make to automatically trigger downstream actions such as creating a customer record in your CRM or sending a verification webhook.
What is the pricing for ID card extraction?
ByteIt uses simple, usage-based pricing with a free tier to get started and competitive per-page rates that typically cost just a few cents per page. Higher-volume plans add parallel processing, team API keys, and analytics, and Enterprise plans offer custom volumes, zero data retention, VPC or on-premise deployment, and dedicated support. See the pricing page on byteit.ai for current plans and rates.
Which countries' ID cards are supported?
ByteIt's extraction engine is not limited to a pre-defined set of countries. It reads ID cards from many issuing nations by combining MRZ parsing with AI-based text recognition on the visual inspection zone. This means it works with EU national ID cards, US state driver's licences, UK photocard driving licences, residency permits, and many other identity document formats without requiring per-country template configuration.
Can the engine extract the photograph from the ID card?
Yes. The ID photo is among the fields that can be returned. The engine returns the portrait photograph found on the card as a separate data element, which can be used for biometric matching, manual verification by a compliance officer, or archival purposes, alongside name, document number, and many more.