Glitch Text Generator — Corrupted and Zalgo Text
A free glitch text generator with six intensity levels, from a light corrupted look to full Zalgo, ready to copy and paste.
Live preview active — each result is regenerated as you type. Nothing is uploaded; the conversion runs in your browser.
Showing a sample. Turn on JavaScript to glitch your own text.
Glitch text stacks combining marks on top of ordinary letters so the word looks corrupted, torn or possessed. Nothing is broken — every result above is still your original text with extra characters attached, so it copies and pastes into a bio, a Discord message or a video title exactly as you see it.
How to use it
- Type your words in the box above.
- Pick an intensity. Light stays readable, Zalgo does not.
- Press Copy, or PNG to save it as an image.
Each result is regenerated at random every time you type, so pressing a key gives you a slightly different corruption. If you find one you like, copy it before you type anything else.
Choosing an intensity
| Level | Marks per letter | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Light | 2 | A username or bio that should still be readable at a glance |
| Medium | 5 | Thumbnails, headings, anything you want people to notice |
| Heavy | 10 | Horror and vaporwave aesthetics, short words only |
| Zalgo | 17 | Maximum corruption. Expect it to spill over neighbouring lines |
| Above / Below only | 3 | Corruption in one direction, so it does not collide with the line above or below |
| Struck / Slashed | 1 | A clean single line through the text, no randomness |
Why glitch text overflows its line
Combining marks are drawn outside the normal letter box. A browser reserves space for the letter, not for the seventeen accents you piled onto it, so at high intensity the text climbs into the line above and drips into the line below. That is not a bug in the generator — it is what the characters do, and it is why most sites cap the effect. Use Above only or Below only when you need the damage to go one way, and keep Zalgo for a single short word.
Where glitch text works
| Place | Result |
|---|---|
| Discord messages and nicknames | Works, though servers with anti-spam bots may reject heavy stacking |
| Instagram bio and captions | Works, trimmed slightly on some Android builds |
| TikTok captions | Works at light and medium |
| YouTube titles and comments | Works, though YouTube strips very long mark stacks |
| X / Twitter | Works |
| Roblox display names | Usually rejected by the name filter |
| Steam names | Works, a long-running favourite there |
| Passwords, email, anything you must retype | Avoid completely |
Frequently asked questions
Is glitch text the same as Zalgo?
Zalgo is the extreme end of the same technique. The name comes from a 2004 internet horror meme, and it means combining marks stacked until the text becomes unreadable. Light and medium glitch use the same characters, just fewer of them.
Why does my text look different each time?
The marks are picked at random from about sixty combining characters. Two runs on the same word will never match exactly. Copy the version you like rather than trying to reproduce it.
Can glitch text break a website?
No. It can look messy and it can push into neighbouring lines, but the characters are ordinary Unicode and any modern platform handles them safely. Some sites strip them, which is a filter, not a crash.
Will people on phones see it?
Yes, though rendering differs. iOS draws mark stacks tightly, Android spreads them further, and some older devices clamp the stack height. Assume it looks messier on your reader’s screen than on yours.
Is it accessible?
No, and this matters. A screen reader announces every combining mark it meets, so a Zalgo word can turn into a minute of noise. Never put glitch text in something a reader has to understand — keep it decorative and keep a plain version nearby.
How glitch text is actually built
Every result on this page is your original word with extra invisible-width characters inserted after each letter. Unicode calls them combining marks, and they are normally used to place accents on letters in languages that need them — the acute in cafe, the tilde in senor, the ring in Angstrom. A browser draws them attached to the character before, not beside it, so they take up no horizontal space.
There are three groups, and the intensity settings above simply change how many are drawn from each. Marks from the upper group stack above the letter, the middle group draws through it, and the lower group hangs beneath. Because nothing limits how many you can attach, a single letter can carry twenty marks, and that is the whole trick behind Zalgo.
Keeping glitch text usable
The failure everyone makes is generating at maximum intensity, pasting it into a bio, and finding it clipped into a single messy line by the platform. A few habits avoid that:
- Glitch one word, not the whole sentence. The effect reads as intentional when it contrasts against plain text and as broken when everything is corrupted.
- Test in the destination before you commit. Instagram, Discord and YouTube each clamp mark stacks differently, and the only reliable check is pasting it there.
- Use Above only in a bio. Bios sit tight against the name above them, and downward marks are the ones that get clipped.
- Keep a plain copy. If a platform strips the marks later, you want the original wording, and you cannot easily un-glitch text once it is out.
Related generators
- Font Generator — every copy-and-paste style in one place
- Tiny Text Generator — superscript, small caps and subscript
- Discord Font Generator — styles that survive Discord
