Old English Zalgo text generator

Old English letters with medium stacked glitch marks on top.

What is Old English Zalgo text and will it work in my app?

Old English Zalgo text is ordinary text converted to combining marks, so it works anywhere plain text is accepted without installing a font. Support level: check your app first. Some apps replace these characters with boxes or substitute a different emoji. If you need a guaranteed result, test it in the app you have in mind before relying on it. If an app draws empty boxes, that app is missing the characters this style uses, so the style itself is fine but that app cannot display it.

How Old English Zalgo text works

Small combining marks are stacked above and below each letter, leaving the underlying text readable.

Combining marks are the least widely supported characters this site uses. They render correctly in most modern apps but can disappear entirely in older ones.

Old English Zalgo is a combination rather than a single effect: it layers the base style with an additional step, which is why it reads more clearly than either part alone. It stacks a few marks per letter, which is why the text stays readable underneath.

Category: Glitch. Tagged as zalgo, glitch, fraktur.

This style builds on Old English.

Old English Zalgo examples

Real output from this style. Copy any line to use it exactly as shown.

Where Old English Zalgo text works

Some apps replace these characters with boxes or substitute a different emoji. If you need a guaranteed result, test it in the app you have in mind before relying on it.

The apps people paste styled text into most often behave like this:

If you need a result that cannot break, pair this style with a plain-text fallback. Some apps let you paste an alternative that appears only when styled text is not rendered, which is worth doing for a profile name other people have to read.

When to use Old English Zalgo

This style suits a streamer overlay, a username that should look corrupted and a hacking or cyberpunk theme. It is built from Unicode characters rather than a font, so the result stays selectable and searchable in most apps, and it will not change shape when someone else views it.

It will not work for anything that needs to be read reliably, such as a support message, an address or a link. Styled text is for display, where a reader is looking at it rather than searching through it.

For something more legible, try the base style.

Questions

How do I use Old English Zalgo?

Type your text, copy the result and paste it where you want it. No font install is needed because the result is made of Unicode characters.

Where does Old English Zalgo work?

Check your app first. Some apps replace these characters with boxes or emoji.

Is my text saved anywhere?

No. The text is styled in your browser and is not sent to or stored on our server.

Why does Old English Zalgo text look like boxes in some apps?

The style uses Unicode characters rather than a font, so an app shows them correctly only if the device has a glyph for each one. Missing characters fall back to an empty box.

Can I use Old English Zalgo text commercially?

Yes. The characters come from the Unicode standard rather than from a licensed typeface, and the generated text is yours to use on any platform.

What is the difference between Old English Zalgo text and a font?

A font changes the shape of ordinary letters, so the text stays readable and searchable but needs the font installed. Old English Zalgo text replaces each letter with a different Unicode character, so it works anywhere plain text is accepted without installing anything.