Zalgo (Glitch) Text Generator
Type normal text and get a glitched Zalgo version built from Unicode combining marks, with full control over intensity and direction.
Z̞̫̆͒͋ä́ͩ̕͝ͅḷ̢͈̰ͩg̢͇̩͋ͅo̜̣ͨͨ͋ t̮̘͗̈́̽e͍͎̩̅̄x͖ͨ͗̈́͌t͍̟̠͗̃
55 characters including marks
Some platforms strip combining marks, so pasted Zalgo text may appear plain there.
How it works
- Type or paste your text into the input box — the Zalgo version appears instantly below.
- Drag the intensity slider (1–15 marks per character) and toggle the up, middle, and down mark directions until it looks right.
- Press Copy to put the glitched text on your clipboard, then paste it into a chat, comment, or profile.
Frequently asked questions
- How does Zalgo text actually work?
- Zalgo text is ordinary text with Unicode combining diacritical marks (code points U+0300–U+036F and related ranges) stacked onto each letter. Fonts render these marks above, through, and below the base character, and when many are stacked the text appears to bleed and glitch. The underlying letters are still real text, which is why it can be copied and pasted.
- Why does Zalgo text look broken or plain on some sites?
- Many platforms strip or limit combining marks to prevent abuse, so usernames, Instagram bios, and some form fields may show your text without the glitch effect. Other sites keep the marks but clip them at the line edge, cutting off the tall stacks. Comments and chat messages usually preserve the effect better than name fields.
- Is my text uploaded anywhere?
- No. The generator runs entirely in your browser with JavaScript — the marks are picked and attached on your device and nothing is sent to a server. You can load the page, go offline, and it will keep working.
- What do the up, middle, and down toggles do?
- Combining marks come in three broad groups: marks that stack above the letter, marks that strike through the middle, and marks that hang below. The toggles control which groups the generator draws from, so you can make text that only drips downward, only towers upward, or glitches in every direction at once.
- Does Zalgo text increase the character count?
- Yes, significantly. Every combining mark is its own Unicode character, so at intensity 10 a single letter can count as 11 characters. On platforms with strict limits, such as posts capped at 280 characters, a short Zalgo phrase can hit the ceiling quickly, so keep an eye on the length.
About this tool
This Zalgo text generator turns plain text into the glitched, “corrupted” style popularized by internet horror culture — letters that appear to melt, drip, and tower with chaotic marks. You type normal text, and the tool overlays each letter with randomly chosen Unicode combining diacritical marks. Because the result is genuine Unicode text rather than an image, it can be copied and pasted into Discord, YouTube comments, forum posts, and most chat apps.
Everything happens client-side in your browser. For each character you type, the generator picks marks from the combining ranges (U+0300–U+036F and neighboring blocks) and appends them directly after the base letter; your font engine does the rest, rendering the marks stacked on top of each other. The intensity slider sets how many marks are attached per character, from a subtle shimmer at 1 to full corruption at 15, and the direction toggles let you restrict marks to those rendered above, through, or below the letter. Nothing is transmitted or stored — the text never leaves your device.
Typical uses include creepy usernames and nicknames on platforms that allow them, horror-themed Discord messages, Halloween social posts, glitch-art captions, and testing. That last one matters more than people expect: developers paste Zalgo text into their own forms and databases to check that input validation, truncation, and rendering survive heavily combined Unicode, since it is a classic stress case.
A few practical tips: keep intensity low (2–4) if you want the text to stay readable, since high values bury the letters completely. Down-only marks tend to survive tight line heights better than up marks, which often get clipped by the line above. And remember that some platforms silently strip combining marks — if your paste comes out plain, the site filtered it, not the generator.