diff --git a/apps/client/src/widgets/type_widgets/options/media.tsx b/apps/client/src/widgets/type_widgets/options/media.tsx
index e8fd9dbb50..098e71176f 100644
--- a/apps/client/src/widgets/type_widgets/options/media.tsx
+++ b/apps/client/src/widgets/type_widgets/options/media.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { t } from "../../../services/i18n";
-import FormTextBox, { FormTextBoxWithUnit } from "../../react/FormTextBox";
+import { FormTextBoxWithUnit } from "../../react/FormTextBox";
 import FormToggle from "../../react/FormToggle";
 import { useTriliumOption, useTriliumOptionBool } from "../../react/hooks";
 import OptionsRow from "./components/OptionsRow";
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ function ImageSettings() {
 function OcrSettings() {
     const [ ocrEnabled, setOcrEnabled ] = useTriliumOptionBool("ocrEnabled");
     const [ ocrAutoProcess, setOcrAutoProcess ] = useTriliumOptionBool("ocrAutoProcessImages");
-    const [ ocrLanguage, setOcrLanguage ] = useTriliumOption("ocrLanguage");
     const [ ocrMinConfidence, setOcrMinConfidence ] = useTriliumOption("ocrMinConfidence");
 
     return (
@@ -84,14 +83,6 @@ function OcrSettings() {
                 />
             </OptionsRow>
 
-            <OptionsRow name="ocr-language" label={t("images.ocr_language")} description={t("images.ocr_language_description")}>
-                <FormTextBox
-                    disabled={!ocrEnabled}
-                    currentValue={ocrLanguage}
-                    onChange={setOcrLanguage}
-                />
-            </OptionsRow>
-
             <OptionsRow name="ocr-min-confidence" label={t("images.ocr_min_confidence")} description={t("images.ocr_confidence_description")}>
                 <FormTextBoxWithUnit
                     type="number" min="0" max="1" step="0.05"
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/ocr_service.ts b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/ocr_service.ts
index 9eefe5dca4..9fd6e28904 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/ocr_service.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/ocr_service.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
+import { getTesseractCode } from '@triliumnext/commons';
 import Tesseract from 'tesseract.js';
-import log from '../log.js';
-import sql from '../sql.js';
+
 import becca from '../../becca/becca.js';
+import log from '../log.js';
 import options from '../options.js';
+import sql from '../sql.js';
+import { FileProcessor } from './processors/file_processor.js';
 import { ImageProcessor } from './processors/image_processor.js';
+import { OfficeProcessor } from './processors/office_processor.js';
 import { PDFProcessor } from './processors/pdf_processor.js';
 import { TIFFProcessor } from './processors/tiff_processor.js';
-import { OfficeProcessor } from './processors/office_processor.js';
-import { FileProcessor } from './processors/file_processor.js';
 
 export interface OCRResult {
     text: string;
@@ -59,6 +61,69 @@ class OCRService {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Resolves the Tesseract language code(s) for OCR processing.
+     *
+     * Priority:
+     * 1. Explicitly passed `language` option (e.g. from API call)
+     * 2. The note's `language` label (mapped via {@link getTesseractCode})
+     * 3. All enabled content languages joined with `+`
+     * 4. The UI locale
+     * 5. Fallback to `eng`
+     */
+    resolveOcrLanguage(noteId?: string, explicitLanguage?: string): string {
+        // 1. Explicit language from caller
+        if (explicitLanguage) {
+            return explicitLanguage;
+        }
+
+        // 2. Note's language label
+        if (noteId) {
+            const note = becca.getNote(noteId);
+            const noteLanguage = note?.getLabelValue("language");
+            if (noteLanguage) {
+                const code = getTesseractCode(noteLanguage);
+                if (code) {
+                    return code;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // 3. All enabled content languages
+        try {
+            const languagesJson = options.getOption("languages");
+            const enabledLanguages = JSON.parse(languagesJson || "[]") as string[];
+            if (enabledLanguages.length > 0) {
+                const codes = enabledLanguages
+                    .map((id) => getTesseractCode(id))
+                    .filter((code): code is string => code !== null);
+                // Deduplicate (e.g. en + en-GB both map to eng)
+                const unique = [...new Set(codes)];
+                if (unique.length > 0) {
+                    return unique.join("+");
+                }
+            }
+        } catch {
+            // Fall through
+        }
+
+        // 4. UI locale
+        try {
+            const uiLocale = options.getOption("locale");
+            if (uiLocale) {
+                const code = getTesseractCode(uiLocale);
+                if (code) {
+                    return code;
+                }
+            }
+        } catch {
+            // Fall through
+        }
+
+        // 5. Fallback
+        return "eng";
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check if a MIME type is supported for OCR
      */
@@ -84,7 +149,7 @@ class OCRService {
      */
     async extractTextFromFile(fileBuffer: Buffer, mimeType: string, options: OCRProcessingOptions = {}): Promise<OCRResult> {
         try {
-            log.info(`Starting OCR text extraction for MIME type: ${mimeType}`);
+            log.info(`Starting OCR text extraction for MIME type: ${mimeType} with language: ${options.language || "auto-detect"}`);
             this.isProcessing = true;
 
             // Find appropriate processor
@@ -147,7 +212,8 @@ class OCRService {
                 throw new Error(`Cannot get image content for note ${noteId}`);
             }
 
-            const ocrResult = await this.extractTextFromFile(content, note.mime, options);
+            const language = this.resolveOcrLanguage(noteId, options.language);
+            const ocrResult = await this.extractTextFromFile(content, note.mime, { ...options, language });
 
             // Store OCR result in blob
             await this.storeOCRResult(note.blobId, ocrResult);
@@ -200,7 +266,8 @@ class OCRService {
                 throw new Error(`Cannot get image content for attachment ${attachmentId}`);
             }
 
-            const ocrResult = await this.extractTextFromFile(content, attachment.mime, options);
+            const language = this.resolveOcrLanguage(attachment.ownerId, options.language);
+            const ocrResult = await this.extractTextFromFile(content, attachment.mime, { ...options, language });
 
             // Store OCR result in blob
             await this.storeOCRResult(attachment.blobId, ocrResult);
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/image_processor.ts b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/image_processor.ts
index ecde074be6..82c48bc8f8 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/image_processor.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/image_processor.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export class ImageProcessor extends FileProcessor {
 
             // Set language if specified and different from current
             // Support multi-language format like 'ron+eng'
-            const language = options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage();
+            const language = options.language || "eng";
 
             // Validate language format
             if (!this.isValidLanguageFormat(language)) {
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ export class ImageProcessor extends FileProcessor {
                 text: filteredText,
                 confidence: overallConfidence,
                 extractedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
-                language: options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage(),
+                language: options.language || "eng",
                 pageCount: 1
             };
 
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ export class ImageProcessor extends FileProcessor {
             log.info(`Using worker path: ${workerPath}`);
             log.info(`Using core path: ${corePath}`);
 
-            this.worker = await Tesseract.createWorker(this.getDefaultOCRLanguage(), 1, {
+            this.worker = await Tesseract.createWorker("eng", 1, {
                 workerPath,
                 corePath,
                 logger: (m: { status: string; progress: number }) => {
@@ -131,21 +131,7 @@ export class ImageProcessor extends FileProcessor {
         log.info('Image OCR processor cleaned up');
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Get default OCR language from options
-     */
-    private getDefaultOCRLanguage(): string {
-        try {
-            const ocrLanguage = options.getOption('ocrLanguage');
-            if (!ocrLanguage) {
-                throw new Error('OCR language not configured in user settings');
-            }
-            return ocrLanguage;
-        } catch (error) {
-            log.error(`Failed to get default OCR language: ${error}`);
-            throw new Error('OCR language must be configured in settings before processing');
-        }
-    }
+
 
     /**
      * Filter text based on minimum confidence threshold
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/office_processor.ts b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/office_processor.ts
index 826ada7b3d..01b04c8060 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/office_processor.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/office_processor.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import * as officeParser from 'officeparser';
 
 import log from '../../log.js';
-import options from '../../options.js';
 import { OCRProcessingOptions,OCRResult } from '../ocr_service.js';
 import { FileProcessor } from './file_processor.js';
 import { ImageProcessor } from './image_processor.js';
@@ -38,11 +37,7 @@ export class OfficeProcessor extends FileProcessor {
         try {
             log.info('Starting Office document text extraction...');
 
-            // Validate language format
-            const language = options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage();
-            if (!this.isValidLanguageFormat(language)) {
-                throw new Error(`Invalid OCR language format: ${language}. Use format like 'eng' or 'ron+eng'`);
-            }
+            const language = options.language || "eng";
 
             // Extract text from Office document
             const data = await this.parseOfficeDocument(buffer);
@@ -93,41 +88,4 @@ export class OfficeProcessor extends FileProcessor {
     async cleanup(): Promise<void> {
         await this.imageProcessor.cleanup();
     }
-
-    /**
-     * Get default OCR language from options
-     */
-    private getDefaultOCRLanguage(): string {
-        try {
-            const ocrLanguage = options.getOption('ocrLanguage');
-            if (!ocrLanguage) {
-                throw new Error('OCR language not configured in user settings');
-            }
-            return ocrLanguage;
-        } catch (error) {
-            log.error(`Failed to get default OCR language: ${error}`);
-            throw new Error('OCR language must be configured in settings before processing');
-        }
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Validate OCR language format
-     * Supports single language (eng) or multi-language (ron+eng)
-     */
-    private isValidLanguageFormat(language: string): boolean {
-        if (!language || typeof language !== 'string') {
-            return false;
-        }
-
-        // Split by '+' for multi-language format
-        const languages = language.split('+');
-
-        // Check each language code (should be 2-7 characters, alphanumeric with underscores)
-        const validLanguagePattern = /^[a-zA-Z]{2,3}(_[a-zA-Z]{2,3})?$/;
-
-        return languages.every(lang => {
-            const trimmed = lang.trim();
-            return trimmed.length > 0 && validLanguagePattern.test(trimmed);
-        });
-    }
 }
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/pdf_processor.ts b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/pdf_processor.ts
index 4702a39b54..df5a43f49e 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/pdf_processor.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/pdf_processor.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import pdfParse from 'pdf-parse';
 
 import log from '../../log.js';
-import options from '../../options.js';
 import { OCRProcessingOptions,OCRResult } from '../ocr_service.js';
 import { FileProcessor } from './file_processor.js';
 import { ImageProcessor } from './image_processor.js';
@@ -31,12 +30,6 @@ export class PDFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
         try {
             log.info('Starting PDF text extraction...');
 
-            // Validate language format
-            const language = options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage();
-            if (!this.isValidLanguageFormat(language)) {
-                throw new Error(`Invalid OCR language format: ${language}. Use format like 'eng' or 'ron+eng'`);
-            }
-
             // First try to extract existing text from PDF
             if (options.enablePDFTextExtraction !== false) {
                 const textResult = await this.extractTextFromPDF(buffer, options);
@@ -64,7 +57,7 @@ export class PDFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
                 text: data.text.trim(),
                 confidence: 0.99, // High confidence for direct text extraction
                 extractedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
-                language: options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage(),
+                language: options.language || "eng",
                 pageCount: data.numpages
             };
         } catch (error) {
@@ -91,7 +84,7 @@ export class PDFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
                 text: '[PDF OCR not fully implemented - would convert PDF pages to images and OCR each page]',
                 confidence: 0.0,
                 extractedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
-                language: options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage(),
+                language: options.language || "eng",
                 pageCount: 1
             };
         } catch (error) {
@@ -107,41 +100,4 @@ export class PDFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
     async cleanup(): Promise<void> {
         await this.imageProcessor.cleanup();
     }
-
-    /**
-     * Get default OCR language from options
-     */
-    private getDefaultOCRLanguage(): string {
-        try {
-            const ocrLanguage = options.getOption('ocrLanguage');
-            if (!ocrLanguage) {
-                throw new Error('OCR language not configured in user settings');
-            }
-            return ocrLanguage;
-        } catch (error) {
-            log.error(`Failed to get default OCR language: ${error}`);
-            throw new Error('OCR language must be configured in settings before processing');
-        }
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Validate OCR language format
-     * Supports single language (eng) or multi-language (ron+eng)
-     */
-    private isValidLanguageFormat(language: string): boolean {
-        if (!language || typeof language !== 'string') {
-            return false;
-        }
-
-        // Split by '+' for multi-language format
-        const languages = language.split('+');
-
-        // Check each language code (should be 2-7 characters, alphanumeric with underscores)
-        const validLanguagePattern = /^[a-zA-Z]{2,3}(_[a-zA-Z]{2,3})?$/;
-
-        return languages.every(lang => {
-            const trimmed = lang.trim();
-            return trimmed.length > 0 && validLanguagePattern.test(trimmed);
-        });
-    }
 }
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/tiff_processor.ts b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/tiff_processor.ts
index 6ce33b45c1..ef67029732 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/tiff_processor.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/ocr/processors/tiff_processor.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import sharp from 'sharp';
 
 import log from '../../log.js';
-import options from '../../options.js';
 import { OCRProcessingOptions,OCRResult } from '../ocr_service.js';
 import { FileProcessor } from './file_processor.js';
 import { ImageProcessor } from './image_processor.js';
@@ -30,11 +29,7 @@ export class TIFFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
         try {
             log.info('Starting TIFF text extraction...');
 
-            // Validate language format
-            const language = options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage();
-            if (!this.isValidLanguageFormat(language)) {
-                throw new Error(`Invalid OCR language format: ${language}. Use format like 'eng' or 'ron+eng'`);
-            }
+            const language = options.language || "eng";
 
             // Check if this is a multi-page TIFF
             const metadata = await sharp(buffer).metadata();
@@ -75,7 +70,7 @@ export class TIFFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
                 text: combinedText.trim(),
                 confidence: averageConfidence,
                 extractedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
-                language: options.language || this.getDefaultOCRLanguage(),
+                language,
                 pageCount
             };
 
@@ -95,41 +90,4 @@ export class TIFFProcessor extends FileProcessor {
     async cleanup(): Promise<void> {
         await this.imageProcessor.cleanup();
     }
-
-    /**
-     * Get default OCR language from options
-     */
-    private getDefaultOCRLanguage(): string {
-        try {
-            const ocrLanguage = options.getOption('ocrLanguage');
-            if (!ocrLanguage) {
-                throw new Error('OCR language not configured in user settings');
-            }
-            return ocrLanguage;
-        } catch (error) {
-            log.error(`Failed to get default OCR language: ${error}`);
-            throw new Error('OCR language must be configured in settings before processing');
-        }
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Validate OCR language format
-     * Supports single language (eng) or multi-language (ron+eng)
-     */
-    private isValidLanguageFormat(language: string): boolean {
-        if (!language || typeof language !== 'string') {
-            return false;
-        }
-
-        // Split by '+' for multi-language format
-        const languages = language.split('+');
-
-        // Check each language code (should be 2-7 characters, alphanumeric with underscores)
-        const validLanguagePattern = /^[a-zA-Z]{2,3}(_[a-zA-Z]{2,3})?$/;
-
-        return languages.every(lang => {
-            const trimmed = lang.trim();
-            return trimmed.length > 0 && validLanguagePattern.test(trimmed);
-        });
-    }
 }
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/options_init.ts b/apps/server/src/services/options_init.ts
index e559d40d46..d398a252a2 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/options_init.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/options_init.ts
@@ -216,7 +216,6 @@ const defaultOptions: DefaultOption[] = [
 
     // OCR options
     { name: "ocrEnabled", value: "false", isSynced: true },
-    { name: "ocrLanguage", value: "eng", isSynced: true },
     { name: "ocrAutoProcessImages", value: "true", isSynced: true },
     { name: "ocrMinConfidence", value: "0.55", isSynced: true },
 ];
diff --git a/packages/commons/src/lib/i18n.ts b/packages/commons/src/lib/i18n.ts
index e2cc3231aa..86b5829f64 100644
--- a/packages/commons/src/lib/i18n.ts
+++ b/packages/commons/src/lib/i18n.ts
@@ -9,27 +9,29 @@ export interface Locale {
     devOnly?: boolean;
     /** The value to pass to `--lang` for the Electron instance in order to set it as a locale. Not setting it will hide it from the list of supported locales. */
     electronLocale?: "en" | "de" | "es" | "fr" | "zh_CN" | "zh_TW" | "ro" | "af" | "am" | "ar" | "bg" | "bn" | "ca" | "cs" | "da" | "el" | "en_GB" | "es_419" | "et" | "fa" | "fi" | "fil" | "gu" | "he" | "hi" | "hr" | "hu" | "id" | "it" | "ja" | "kn" | "ko" | "lt" | "lv" | "ml" | "mr" | "ms" | "nb" | "nl" | "pl" | "pt_BR" | "pt_PT" | "ru" | "sk" | "sl" | "sr" | "sv" | "sw" | "ta" | "te" | "th" | "tr" | "uk" | "ur" | "vi";
+    /** The Tesseract OCR language code for this locale (e.g. "eng", "fra", "deu"). See https://tesseract-ocr.github.io/tessdoc/Data-Files-in-different-versions.html */
+    tesseractCode?: "eng" | "deu" | "spa" | "fra" | "gle" | "ita" | "hin" | "jpn" | "por" | "pol" | "ron" | "rus" | "chi_sim" | "chi_tra" | "ukr" | "ara" | "heb" | "kur" | "fas" | "kor";
 }
 
 // When adding a new locale, prefer the version with hyphen instead of underscore.
 const UNSORTED_LOCALES = [
-    { id: "cn", name: "简体中文", electronLocale: "zh_CN" },
-    { id: "de", name: "Deutsch", electronLocale: "de" },
-    { id: "en", name: "English (United States)", electronLocale: "en" },
-    { id: "en-GB", name: "English (United Kingdom)", electronLocale: "en_GB" },
-    { id: "es", name: "Español", electronLocale: "es" },
-    { id: "fr", name: "Français", electronLocale: "fr" },
-    { id: "ga", name: "Gaeilge", electronLocale: "en" },
-    { id: "it", name: "Italiano", electronLocale: "it" },
-    { id: "hi", name: "हिन्दी", electronLocale: "hi" },
-    { id: "ja", name: "日本語", electronLocale: "ja" },
-    { id: "pt_br", name: "Português (Brasil)", electronLocale: "pt_BR" },
-    { id: "pt", name: "Português (Portugal)", electronLocale: "pt_PT" },
-    { id: "pl", name: "Polski", electronLocale: "pl" },
-    { id: "ro", name: "Română", electronLocale: "ro" },
-    { id: "ru", name: "Русский", electronLocale: "ru" },
-    { id: "tw", name: "繁體中文", electronLocale: "zh_TW" },
-    { id: "uk", name: "Українська", electronLocale: "uk" },
+    { id: "cn", name: "简体中文", electronLocale: "zh_CN", tesseractCode: "chi_sim" },
+    { id: "de", name: "Deutsch", electronLocale: "de", tesseractCode: "deu" },
+    { id: "en", name: "English (United States)", electronLocale: "en", tesseractCode: "eng" },
+    { id: "en-GB", name: "English (United Kingdom)", electronLocale: "en_GB", tesseractCode: "eng" },
+    { id: "es", name: "Español", electronLocale: "es", tesseractCode: "spa" },
+    { id: "fr", name: "Français", electronLocale: "fr", tesseractCode: "fra" },
+    { id: "ga", name: "Gaeilge", electronLocale: "en", tesseractCode: "gle" },
+    { id: "it", name: "Italiano", electronLocale: "it", tesseractCode: "ita" },
+    { id: "hi", name: "हिन्दी", electronLocale: "hi", tesseractCode: "hin" },
+    { id: "ja", name: "日本語", electronLocale: "ja", tesseractCode: "jpn" },
+    { id: "pt_br", name: "Português (Brasil)", electronLocale: "pt_BR", tesseractCode: "por" },
+    { id: "pt", name: "Português (Portugal)", electronLocale: "pt_PT", tesseractCode: "por" },
+    { id: "pl", name: "Polski", electronLocale: "pl", tesseractCode: "pol" },
+    { id: "ro", name: "Română", electronLocale: "ro", tesseractCode: "ron" },
+    { id: "ru", name: "Русский", electronLocale: "ru", tesseractCode: "rus" },
+    { id: "tw", name: "繁體中文", electronLocale: "zh_TW", tesseractCode: "chi_tra" },
+    { id: "uk", name: "Українська", electronLocale: "uk", tesseractCode: "ukr" },
 
     /**
      * Development-only languages.
@@ -53,25 +55,29 @@ const UNSORTED_LOCALES = [
         id: "ar",
         name: "اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ",
         rtl: true,
-        electronLocale: "ar"
+        electronLocale: "ar",
+        tesseractCode: "ara"
     },
     { // Hebrew
         id: "he",
         name: "עברית",
         rtl: true,
-        contentOnly: true
+        contentOnly: true,
+        tesseractCode: "heb"
     },
     { // Kurdish
         id: "ku",
         name: "کوردی",
         rtl: true,
-        contentOnly: true
+        contentOnly: true,
+        tesseractCode: "kur"
     },
     { // Persian
         id: "fa",
         name: "فارسی",
         rtl: true,
-        contentOnly: true
+        contentOnly: true,
+        tesseractCode: "fas"
     }
 ] as const;
 
@@ -82,3 +88,10 @@ export const LOCALES: Locale[] = Array.from(UNSORTED_LOCALES)
 export type LOCALE_IDS = typeof UNSORTED_LOCALES[number]["id"];
 /** A type containing a string union of all the supported locales that are not content-only (i.e. can be used as the UI language). */
 export type DISPLAYABLE_LOCALE_IDS = Exclude<typeof UNSORTED_LOCALES[number], { contentOnly: true }>["id"];
+
+/**
+ * Returns the Tesseract OCR language code for the given locale ID, or `null` if not mapped.
+ */
+export function getTesseractCode(localeId: string): string | null {
+    return LOCALES.find((l) => l.id === localeId)?.tesseractCode ?? null;
+}