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Introduction

Welcome to the Plate Recognizer Snapshot API! You can use our API to access our API endpoints, which can read license plates from images. For detailed instructions on how to install the SDK, go here.

We have multiple language bindings. You can view code examples in the dark area to the right, and you can switch the programming language of the examples with the tabs in the top right.

Authentication

Plate Recognizer Snapshot API is only available to registered users. Sign up for a Free Trial and get an API key. It has to be included in all API calls. The HTTP headers must contain:

Authorization: Token API_TOKEN

License Plate Recognition

Read Number Plates from an Image

# gem install multipart-post
require 'net/http/post/multipart'

url = URI.parse('https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/plate-reader/')
path = '/path/to/car.jpg'
File.open(path) do |jpg|
  req = Net::HTTP::Post::Multipart.new url.path,
    "upload" => UploadIO.new(jpg, "image/jpeg", path)
  req['Authorization'] = 'Token API_TOKEN'
  res = Net::HTTP.start(url.host, url.port, use_ssl: true) do |http|
    http.request(req)
  end
end

<?php
// CREATE FILE READY TO UPLOAD WITH CURL
$file = realpath('example.jpg');
if (function_exists('curl_file_create')) { // php 5.5+
  $cFile = curl_file_create($file);
} else {
  $cFile = '@' . realpath($file);
}

//ADD PARAMETER IN REQUEST LIKE regions
$data = array(
    'upload' => $cFile,
    'regions' => 'fr' // Optional
);

// Prepare new cURL resource
$ch = curl_init('https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/plate-reader/');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION, CURL_HTTP_VERSION_2TLS);

// Set HTTP Header for POST request
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(
    "Authorization: Token API_TOKEN"  //API KEY
    )
);

// Submit the POST request and close cURL session handle
$result = curl_exec($ch);
print_r($result);exit;
curl_close($ch);
?>

# pip install requests
import requests
from pprint import pprint
regions = ['gb', 'it'] # Change to your country
with open('/path/to/car.jpg', 'rb') as fp:
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/plate-reader/',
        data=dict(regions=regions),  # Optional
        files=dict(upload=fp),
        headers={'Authorization': 'Token API_TOKEN'})
pprint(response.json())


curl -F '[email protected]/path/to/car.jpg' \
  -F regions=fr \
  -F regions=gb \
  -H 'Authorization: Token API_TOKEN' \
  https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/plate-reader/


// Using Node-RED?
// Check https://github.com/parkpow/node-red-contrib-plate-recognizer

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

let image_path = '/path/to/car.jpg'
let body = new FormData();
body.append('upload', fs.createReadStream(image_path));
// Or body.append('upload', base64Image);
body.append('regions', 'gb'); // Change to your country
fetch("https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/plate-reader/", {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
            "Authorization": "Token API_TOKEN"
        },
        body: body
    }).then(res => res.json())
    .then(json => console.log(json))
    .catch((err) => {
        console.log(err);
    });

// Complete Example:

// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/tree/master/csharp/PlateRecognizer

// Function calling the API:

// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/blob/master/csharp/PlateRecognizer/PlateReader.cs#L23


// Complete Example:

// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/tree/master/java/PlateRecognizer

// Function calling the API:

// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/blob/master/java/PlateRecognizer/src/main/java/com/mycompany/numberplate/recognize.java#L17    

// Complete Android App Example:

// https://github.com/parkpow/alpr-anpr-android/

// Complete Example (Windows or Linux):

// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/tree/master/java/PlateRecognizer

// Function calling the API:

// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/blob/master/cpp/linux/numberPlate.cpp#L25
// https://github.com/marcbelmont/deep-license-plate-recognition/blob/master/cpp/windows/ConsoleApplication2/ConsoleApplication2.cpp#L29

Return value

{
    "processing_time": 288.758,
    "results": [
        {
            "box": {
                "xmin": 143,
                "ymin": 481,
                "xmax": 282,
                "ymax": 575
            },
            "plate": "nhk552",
            "region": {
                "code": "gb",
                "score": 0.747
            },
            "vehicle": {
                "score": 0.798,
                "type": "Sedan",
                "box": {
                    "xmin": 67,
                    "ymin": 113,
                    "xmax": 908,
                    "ymax": 653
                }
            },
            "score": 0.904,
            "candidates": [
                {
                    "score": 0.904,
                    "plate": "nhk552"
                }
            ],
            "dscore": 0.99,
            // Make Model, Orientation and Color are only available if you set mmc=true
            "model_make": [
                {
                    "make": "Riley",
                    "model": "RMF",
                    "score": 0.306
                }
            ],
            "color": [
                {
                    "color": "black",
                    "score": 0.937
                }
            ],
            "orientation": [
                {
                    "orientation": "Front",
                    "score": 0.937
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "filename": "1617_7M83K_car.jpg",
    "version": 1,
    "camera_id": null,
    "timestamp": "2020-10-12T16:17:27.574008Z"
}

This Snapshot API endpoint reads all license plates from an image.

If you need to detect vehicles and decode license plates from a live camera or video feed, consider using Plate Recognizer Stream. Contact us to request a Free Trial of Stream.

If you need to blur license plates, consider using Plate Recognizer Blur. Contact us for more info.

HTTP Request

POST https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/plate-reader/

POST Parameters

Parameter Required Description
upload Yes The file to be uploaded. The parameter can either be the file bytes (using Content-Type multipart/form-data) OR a base64 encoded image.
regions No Match the license plate pattern of a specific region or regions. This parameter can be used multiple times to specify more than one region. *
camera_id No Unique camera identifier.
timestamp No ISO 8601 timestamp. For example, 2019-08-19T13:11:25. The timestamp has to be in UTC.
mmc No Predict vehicle make, model, orientation and color. This feature is available for an additional fee. Set parameter to true (mmc=true) if you have this feature enabled/purchased to get vehicle make, model and color. Possible values are true or false.

* The regions parameter is used as a guide and the template will be ignored if the prediction differs too much from it. It works this way because we want to still be able to read plates from foreign vehicles. The system may sometimes mistake a local vehicle for a foreign one.

JSON Response

The response is a list of all the license plates found in the image. Each license plate has the following elements:

Attribute Description
results/plate Text of the license plate.
results/box Bounding box for the license plate. Coordinates in pixel of the top left and bottom right corners of the plate.
results/dscore Confidence level for plate detection.
results/score Confidence level for reading the license plate text.
results/vehicle/type Vehicle type: Big Truck, Bus, Motorcycle, Pickup Truck, Sedan, SUV, Van, Unknown.
results/vehicle/score Confidence level for vehicle prediction.
results/vehicle/box Vehicle bounding box.
results/region/code Region of license plate. Returns a code from the country list.
results/region/score Confidence level for license plate region.
results/candidates List of predictions for the license plate value. The first element is the top prediction (same as results/plate).
results/model_make/make Prediction of vehicle make.
results/model_make/model Prediction of vehicle model.
results/model_make/score Confidence level for vehicle make and model prediction.
results/color/color Vehicle color. One of black, blue, brown, green, red, silver, white, yellow, unknown.
results/color/score Confidence level for vehicle color prediction.
results/orientation/orientation Vehicle orientation. One of Front, Rear, Unknown.
results/orientation/score Confidence level for vehicle orientation prediction.

Countries

Codes for the regions parameter. You can also provide a state to select more specific license plate patterns. States are only supported for some countries.

Don't see your country listed? Contact us for more info.

The column Prediction indicates if the region is supported by our region classification predictor (field results/region/code).

Country Region code Prediction
Albania al
Andorra ad
Angola ao
Argentina ar Yes
Armenia am Yes
Australia Yes
Austria at Yes
Azerbaijan az Yes
Belarus by Yes
Belgium be Yes
Belize bz
Bolivia bo
Bosnia and Herzegovina ba
Brazil br Yes
Brunei bn
Bulgaria bg Yes
Canada ca Yes
Chile cl Yes
Colombia co Yes
Costa Rica cr Yes
Croatia hr Yes
Cyprus cy
Czechia cz Yes
Denmark dk
Ecuador ec
El Salvador sv
Estonia ee Yes
Finland fi Yes
France fr Yes
French Guiana gf
Georgia ge Yes
Germany de Yes
Gibraltar gi
Greece gr Yes
Guatamala gp
Guyana gy
Holy See va
Honduras hn
Hungary hu Yes
Iceland is
Israel il Yes
India in Yes
Indonesia id Yes
Ireland ie
Italy it Yes
Jordan jo
Kazakhstan kz Yes
Kenya ke
Korea, Republic of kr
Latvia lv Yes
Lebanon lb
Liechtenstein li
Lithuania lt Yes
Luxembourg lu Yes
Malaysia my
Maldives mv
Malta mt
Mexico mx
Moldova, Republic of md Yes
Monaco mc Yes
Montenegro me Yes
Nepal np
Netherlands nl Yes
New Zealand nz Yes
Nicaragua ni
Nigeria ng
North Macedonia mk
Norway no Yes
Panama pa
Paraguay py
Peru pe
Philippines ph
Poland pl Yes
Portugal pt Yes
Qatar qa
Romania ro Yes
Russian Federation ru
San Marino sm
Serbia rs Yes
Singapore sg
Slovakia sk Yes
Slovenia si
South Africa za Yes
Spain es Yes
Suriname sr
Sweden se Yes
Switzerland ch Yes
Tanzania tz
Thailand Yes
Turkey tr Yes
Ukraine ua Yes
United Arab Emirates ae Yes
United Kingdom of Great Britain gb Yes
United States of America Yes
Uraguay uy
Uzbekistan uz Yes
Venezuela ve
Vietnam vn Yes
Zambia zm

United States of America

State Region code
Alabama us-al
Alaska us-ak
Arizona us-az
Arkansas us-ar
California us-ca
Colorado us-co
Connecticut us-ct
Delaware us-de
District of Columbia us-dc
Florida us-fl
Georgia us-ga
Hawaii us-hi
Idaho us-id
Illinois us-il
Indiana us-in
Iowa us-ia
Kansas us-ks
Kentucky us-ky
Louisiana us-la
Maine us-me
Maryland us-md
Massachusetts us-ma
Michigan us-mi
Minnesota us-mn
Mississippi us-ms
Missouri us-mo
Montana us-mt
Nebraska us-ne
Nevada us-nv
New Hampshire us-nh
New Jersey us-nj
New Mexico us-nm
New York us-ny
North Carolina us-nc
North Dakota us-nd
Ohio us-oh
Oklahoma us-ok
Oregon us-or
Pennsylvania us-pa
Rhode Island us-ri
South Carolina us-sc
South Dakota us-sd
Tennessee us-tn
Texas us-tx
Utah us-ut
Vermont us-vt
Virginia us-va
Washington us-wa
West Virginia us-wv
Wisconsin us-wi
Wyoming us-wy

Thailand

Thai characters are not supported on our Cloud API. You will need a custom Docker image. Replace platerecognizer/alpr by platerecognizer/alpr:thailand in the installation instructions.

State Region code
Amnat Charoen th-37
Ang Thong th-15
Ayutthaya th-14
Bangkok th-10
Bangkok th-10b
Bangkok th-10c
Batong th-99
Bueng Kan th-38
Buri Ram th-31
Chachoengsao th-24
Chai Nat th-18
Chaiyaphum th-36
Chanthaburi th-22
Chiang Mai th-50
Chiang Rai th-57
Chon Buri th-20
Chumphon th-86
Kalasin th-46
Kamphaeng Phet th-62
Kanchanaburi th-71
Khon Kaen th-40
Krabi th-81
Lampang th-52
Lamphun th-51
Loei th-42
Lop Buri th-16
Mae Hong Son th-58
Maha Sarakham th-44
Mukdahan th-49
Nakhon Nayok th-26
Nakhon Pathom th-73
Nakhon Phanom th-48
Nakhon Ratchasima th-30
Nakhon Sawan th-60
Nakhon Si Thammarat th-80
Nan th-55
Narathiwat th-96
Nong Bua Lam Phu th-39
Nong Khai th-43
Nonthaburi th-12
Pathum Thani th-13
Pattani th-94
Phangnga th-82
Phatthalung th-93
Phayao th-56
Phetchabun th-67
Phetchaburi th-76
Phichit th-66
Phitsanulok th-65
Phrae th-54
Phuket th-83
Prachin Buri th-25
Prachuap Khiri Khan th-77
Ranong th-85
Ratchaburi th-70
Rayong th-21
Roi Et th-45
Sa Kaeo th-27
Sakon Nakhon th-47
Samut Prakan th-11
Samut Sakhon th-74
Samut Songkhram th-75
Saraburi th-19
Satun th-91
Sing Buri th-17
Sisaket th-33
Songkhla th-90
Sukhothai th-64
Suphan Buri th-72
Surat Thani th-84
Surin th-32
Tak th-63
Trang th-92
Trat th-23
Ubon Ratchathani th-34
Udon Thani th-41
Uthai Thani th-61
Uttaradit th-53
Yala th-95
Yasothon th-35

Australia

State Region code
New South Wales au-nsw
Queensland au-qld
South Australia au-sa
Tasmania au-tas
Victoria au-vic
Western Australia au-wa

Brazil

State Region Code
Acre br-ac
Alagoas br-al
Amapá br-ap
Amazonas br-am
Bahia br-ba
Ceará br-ce
Distrito Federal br-df
Espírito Santo br-es
Goiás br-go
Manias Gerais br-mg
Maranhão br-ma
Mato Grosso do Sul br-ms
Mato Grosso br-mt
Pernambuco br-pe
Pará br-pa
Paraíba br-pb
Paraná br-pr
Piauí br-pi
Rio de Janeiro br-rj
Rio Grande do Norte br-rn
Rio Grande do Sul br-rs
Rondônia br-ro
Roraima br-rr
São Paulo br-sp
Sergipe br-se
Santa Catarina br_sc
Tocantins br-to

SDK

Recognition API

# Parameters config and mmc are optional
curl -F '[email protected]/path/to/car.jpg' \
  -F regions=fr \
  -F regions=it \
  -F mmc=true \
  -F config='{"mode":"fast"}' \
  http://localhost:8080/v1/plate-reader/

Return value

{
  "usage":{
    "max_calls":1000,
    "calls":44
  },
  "results":[
    // Same as cloud API example above.
  ],
  "camera_id": "null",
  "timestamp": "2020-01-16 17:00:00",
  "filename":"car.jpg"
}

Our service is also available on-premises. Get started with the SDK. It has a similar interface as the recognition API and it is hosted locally. See differences below.

HTTP Request

POST http://localhost:8080/v1/plate-reader/

POST Parameters

Parameter Required Description
- - All the parameters from recognition API.
config No Additional engine configuration. See below.

config is a JSON value to change the engine configuration. It can take the following values:

JSON Response

Returns the same parameters as the recognition API. In addition to that, it returns the number of calls used.

SDK version

Return value

{
    "version": "1.3.8",
    "license_key": "XXX",
    "webhooks": []
}

HTTP Request

GET http://localhost:8080/info/

JSON Response

Returns the SDK version, license key and webhooks.

WebHooks

Example of POST payload

{
  "hook": {
    "target": "http://localhost:8081/",
    "id": 2,
    "event": "image.done"
  },
  "data": {
    "processing_time": 0.186,
    "timestamp": "2019-08-31T14:22:06.983Z",
    "results": [
      {
        "box": {
          "xmin": 563,
          "ymin": 530,
          "ymax": 579,
          "xmax": 702
        },
        "plate": "765410",
        "score": 0.9131534678711563,
        "dscore": 0.4084282568529709
      },
      {
        "box": {
          "xmin": 563,
          "ymin": 530,
          "ymax": 579,
          "xmax": 702
        },
        "plate": "830265",
        "score": 0.7700640306685624,
        "dscore": 0.8493143507578083
      }
    ],
    "filename": "14_22_test.jpeg",
    "version": 1,
    "camera_id": null
  }
}

Our service also supports webhooks. It allows you to receive a HTTP POST request to a target URL of your choosing. Go to webhooks settings page to manage your webhooks or add a new webhook target. If you are using Stream, see those instructions.

To quickly test out this feature, you can use http://webhook.site. It generates a unique target URL and displays all the requests made to that URL.

The target_url should return a valid HTTP status code (200). If the target_url consistently returns an error code, the hook will be removed and an email will be sent to the account owner.

Data Only Webhook

Snapshot: HTTP Request

POST target_url

The request body contains the payload above in JSON format.

Stream: HTTP Request

POST target_url

The request body contains a json field with JSON encoded data. See the example above for the content of that field.

Webhook With Image

Snapshot & Stream: HTTP Request

POST target_url

The request body contains a multipart/form-data content. Receiving this data is like receiving the content of a form with an input of type file. It has two fields:

Statistics

Get number of recognition calls done during the current month.

HTTP Request

GET https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/statistics/

curl -H 'Authorization: Token API_TOKEN' \
  https://api.platerecognizer.com/v1/statistics/

Return value

{
  "usage": {
    "month": 1,
    "calls": 128,
    "year": 2019,
    "resets_on": "2019-01-14T00:00:00Z"
  },
  "total_calls": 2500
}

JSON Response

Attribute Description
calls Number of API calls made during the current period.
month Month of the current period.
year Year of the current period.
resets_on Date when the counter will reset.
total_calls Maximum number of API calls you can make during the period. Need more? Upgrade.

Errors

Error Code Meaning
403 Forbidden -- Your API key is wrong.
413 Payload Too Large response status code indicates that the request entity is larger than limits defined by our server. See upload limits.
429 Indicates the user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time. The Free Trial Snapshot API Cloud Plan has a limit of 1 lookup per second. A Snapshot API Cloud Subscription has a limit of 8 lookups per second. The Snapshot SDK does not have any lookup limits per second. Subscribe for a higher number of calls per second for your API Cloud plan.

FAQ

Can't make it work? We may have answers on our FAQ.

shell ruby python javascript csharp php java cpp