Zalgo text, also known as glitch or cursed text, uses Unicode combining characters to create a corrupted, chaotic appearance. Combining marks are diacritics that overlay or surround base characters, such as accents (á, ñ). When multiple combining marks are stacked, text appears distorted, glitchy, or eerie.
The generation process adds random combining characters above, below, and through each letter. Marks like diacriticals, underlines, and strikethroughs stack to create visual chaos. The result is text that looks corrupted or supernatural, popular in internet culture for memes and horror themes.
Zalgo text originated from internet memes, particularly the Zalgo creepypasta character. The glitchy appearance became associated with horror, chaos, and the uncanny. Today, it is used for creative expression, attention-grabbing posts, and aesthetic content on social media.
Browser-based generation operates locally without server uploads. Users create zalgo text privately, useful for social media drafts, creative projects, or personal messages without sharing content with external services.