DocFilaHow Passport MRZ Scanning Works (And Why It's Faster Than Typing)
What the Machine-Readable Zone is, how OCR reads it, and how to use DocFila's Read MRZ on a scan.
What the MRZ is
The Machine-Readable Zone is the two- or three-line block of OCR-B-font characters at the bottom of a passport, ID card, or visa. It encodes name, document number, nationality, date of birth, expiry date, and a check digit per field — designed to be read by a scanner at an airport in under a second.
How a phone can read it
OCR-B is a font designed for reliable optical recognition, so ordinary OCR can read an MRZ from a clear scan. In DocFila, scan the passport or ID and tap Read MRZ in the scan editor: DocFila runs OCR on the page, parses the lines, and shows the name, document number, issuing country, nationality, birth date, expiry and sex, plus whether each check digit passes. Review the values; a failed check digit usually means a misread character.
What it does not do
Read MRZ is a tool in the DocFila app for your own scans. DocFila does not offer an SDK or API for adding MRZ reading to another company's onboarding flow.
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