Input
Chaos Level
5
Zalgo Output
About this tool
Zalgo Text Generator
Zalgo Text generates glitched, corrupted-looking text with an adjustable chaos level.
How to use it
- Type your text.
- Set the chaos level.
- Copy the result.
How the effect works
Zalgo stacks Unicode combining diacritical marks on top of ordinary characters. These marks are designed to attach to a base letter, as in an accent, and Unicode does not limit how many can be attached at once.
Pile on dozens per character and they render as tendrils spilling above and below the line. Nothing about the base text changes, which is why Zalgo text can still be copied and read by a screen reader, and also why it overflows its line box and can break layouts.
When it helps
- Creating a horror or glitch aesthetic in a title or a graphic.
- Demonstrating how combining characters work in Unicode.
- Testing whether an application handles unusual Unicode safely.
- Meme and internet culture text.
Common mistakes
- Using it where people need to read the text. It is decorative and hostile to legibility.
- Pasting it into systems that limit field length. Each visible character can carry dozens of code points, so a short-looking string can be enormous.
- Assuming it is harmless in an interface. Unbounded stacking is a known way to break layouts and slow down text rendering.
