Azure Computer Vision - Legacy OCR API

Ashkan Izadpanah 21

We are currently using Computer vision version 2.0 with the following 2 endpoints in our enterprise application,
<endpoint url>/vision/v2.0/analyze
<endpoint url>/vision/v2.0/ocr --> (Legacy OCR API)

Since Legacy OCR API is not going to be supported anymore, we are planning to upgrade to version 4 (ImageAnalysis v.4 is now in public preview).
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/computer-vision/overview-ocr
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-computer-vision-image-analysis-40/

Here are my questions:
1- Legacy OCR API is still active (v2.x and v3.x endpoints are still functioning), but Azure is mentioning that this API is no longer supported.
When will this legacy API be retiring (endpoints become inactive)?

2- For ImageAnalytics v4.0,
a) When in 2023 will it be available in GA?
b) Will legacy OCR API be available till then?

I appreciate your feedback on this matter since our decision plan is highly dependent on Azure team's feedback.

romungi-MSFT 42,286 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2022-11-22T06:14:55.47+00:00

@Ashkan Izadpanah The date for deprecating the legacy OCR API is not announced yet. The recommendation is to move to 3.2 read OCR https://{endpoint}/vision/v3.2/read/analyze which is a GA version.
The exact date to deprecate the legacy version will be announced on the release page. Any deprecation update on this page will provide enough time to update and migrate to newer versions.
Ex: Deprecation of 3.x-preview versions was announced in Sep. 2022 but the API will be available till Jan-2023 to migrate to GA. We will try to check if there is any update that is available internally which could be shared on this thread.

The GA update of v4.0 is also not available yet. The cycle of the update mainly depends on feedback from the preview version of v4.0 and any update to move to GA will be updated on release page along with deprecation notice of preview versions.

With respect to legacy OCR 2.0/ocr deprecation and v4.0 GA availability, the API versions should be available unless an announcement has been made on the CV & Azure updates page.