PURPOSE: To obtain a band graph recognizing device capable of obtaining so high compression ratio that the information of the recognition data of a band graph can be compressed drastically.

CONSTITUTION: Band graph picture data converted into an electric signal by a photo-electric converting part 1 is stored in a picture storage part 2, and it is separated into a character part and a graphic part by a character graphic separating part 3, and the separated information is recognized by a character recognizing part 4 and a graphic recognizing part 5, and by recognizing it as the band graph by a graph recognizing part 6, the item of every component of the band graph and a value corresponding to it are obtained. Thus, the compression ratio of the recognized data is improved, and the re-use of it is facilitated.