Zalgo Text Generator

Zalgo text achieves its distinctive "corrupted" appearance by stacking Unicode combining characters above, through, and below the base text characters. Combining characters are special Unicode code points designed to modify the appearance of the preceding base character — diacritical marks like accents, tildes, and underlines. Zalgo text exploits this mechanism by attaching dozens of combining characters to each base letter.



The Unicode standard includes hundreds of combining characters in several ranges: combining diacritical marks (U+0300-U+036F) appear above letters (accents, carets, tildes), combining marks for symbols (U+20D0-U+20FF) appear through and around letters (strikethroughs, enclosures), and additional combining marks appear below letters (underlines, cedillas). Normally, a character has zero to two combining marks. Zalgo text attaches 5 to 50 or more.



The generator works by iterating through each character of your input text and appending a random selection of combining characters from the above, middle, and below ranges. The intensity setting controls how many combining characters are added — low intensity adds 1-3 per position, while high intensity adds 15-50, creating the extreme distortion effect. The randomness in character selection and count ensures each generation produces a unique visual pattern.



The output is valid Unicode text — not an image or special font. It can be copied and pasted into any application that renders Unicode correctly. Some platforms may strip or limit combining characters for accessibility reasons, but most social media, messaging, and web platforms render zalgo text as intended.

1. Social Media & Online Humor
Zalgo text is a staple of internet culture, associated with creepypasta stories, meme culture, and surreal humor. Posting zalgo text in comments, usernames, or bios creates an immediate visual impact that stands out from standard text and signals familiarity with internet subculture.



2. Creative Writing & Horror Fiction
Authors of horror fiction, creepypasta, and experimental literature use zalgo text to visually represent corruption, supernatural interference, or madness. The distorted text immediately conveys an unsettling atmosphere without needing to describe it in words.



3. Game Design & ARG (Alternate Reality Games)
Game designers use zalgo text in horror games, ARGs, and puzzle games to create unsettling interfaces, corrupted messages, and hidden clues. The visual glitchiness suggests system corruption or supernatural influence within the game narrative.



4. Graphic Design & Digital Art
Designers use zalgo text as a typographic element in posters, album covers, glitch art, and cyberpunk aesthetics. When combined with glitch imagery, the corrupted text creates a cohesive visual language associated with digital dystopia and vaporwave culture.



5. Unicode & Encoding Education
Zalgo text serves as an engaging introduction to Unicode combining characters, code points, and text rendering. Students exploring how zalgo text works learn about character encoding, the Unicode standard, and how text rendering engines process combining marks — foundational knowledge for internationalization work.

• Start with low intensity: High-intensity zalgo text can extend far above and below the text line, disrupting surrounding content. Start with low intensity and increase until you achieve the desired effect without overwhelming the layout.



• Keep text short: Zalgo text is most effective in short phrases or single words. Long paragraphs of heavily distorted text are unreadable and can cause performance issues in some rendering engines.



• Test on your target platform: Different platforms render combining characters differently. Discord, Twitter, and Reddit all handle zalgo text well, but some platforms strip excessive combining marks or have rendering limits. Test before posting.



• Be considerate of accessibility: Zalgo text is read character-by-character by screen readers, which means a screen reader will attempt to announce every combining character — producing an extremely long, confusing output. Never use zalgo text in content that needs to be accessible.



• Combine with other Unicode effects: Pair zalgo text with upside-down text, strikethrough, or small text for layered visual effects. Each technique uses different Unicode features and they can complement each other.



• Mind the copy-paste length: Heavily distorted zalgo text contains many more characters than the visible text suggests. A 10-character word with high-intensity zalgo might contain 500+ Unicode code points, which may exceed character limits on some platforms.



• Use selectively for emphasis: A single zalgo word in an otherwise normal sentence creates more impact than an entire paragraph of distortion. Selective use directs attention and maintains readability of the surrounding content.