The counter every other generator hides
Each mark stacked on a letter is a character in its own right. The word « hello » at intensity 20 does not weigh five characters but around a hundred and fifty. We measured it.
That is what explains the baffling failures: your Instagram bio is rejected although it fits on one line, your message is cut off mid-word, your SMS goes out as three billed parts. This page shows the real count and each platform's limit before you paste anything.
The overflow, and how to avoid it
Marks above stack vertically without taking any width. Past three of them your text covers the line above — which is precisely why a zalgo comment wrecks a forum's layout and gets itself deleted.
Three separate sliders let you dose above, through and below independently: a heavy downward effect overflows far less than an upward one. And contained mode caps the stacking so it stays within one line, for when you want the effect without the damage.
The reverse operation
Received some zalgo and want to read it? The clean button strips every combining mark and hands you back the original sentence. Almost no generator offers this, even though it is the exact mirror of the first function.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the name « zalgo » come from?
From a 2004 internet meme featuring an entity called Zalgo whose arrival was heralded by corrupted text. The technique itself is older: it uses the combining diacritics Unicode provides for writing languages with stacked accents.
Why does Instagram reject my text?
Because it exceeds the character limit. Every mark counts. The measurement panel on this page tells you before you try.
Does zalgo look the same everywhere?
No. Rendering depends on the text engine: Chrome, Safari and Android stack differently, and some apps cap how many marks they will draw.
Can it get my account in trouble?
Not by itself, but heavy use in comments can read as spam to automated moderation. Keep it reasonable.