👻 Zero-Width Text Generator

About the Zero-Width Text Generator

This tool lets you hide a secret message inside an ordinary-looking piece of text by inserting invisible zero-width Unicode characters between the visible characters. To anyone reading the cover text, nothing looks different — but the hidden payload is right there, waiting to be extracted. This tool runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

How it works

• Encode — Each character of the secret is converted to its 16-bit binary representation. Each bit is encoded as one of two invisible characters: Zero-Width Space (U+200B) for 0 and Zero-Width Non-Joiner (U+200C) for 1. A Zero-Width Joiner (U+200D) separates characters. The invisible stream is inserted into the middle of the visible text.
• Decode — Paste any text that may contain hidden zero-width characters. The tool scans for the invisible sequence, reconstructs the binary, and converts it back to the original secret message.
• Strip Zero-Width — Removes all zero-width characters (U+200B, U+200C, U+200D, U+FEFF) from any text, leaving only the visible content. Useful for cleaning copied text that came from websites.
• The hidden characters are completely invisible in virtually all editors, browsers, and chat apps.

Use cases

• Watermarking text to track leaks (each copy gets a unique invisible tag).
• Hiding spoilers, punchlines, or answers in plain sight.
• Passing secret notes through channels that don't support encryption.
• Demonstrating Unicode steganography for education.

Frequently asked questions

Is this secure encryption? No. It is steganography — hiding the existence of a message — not encryption. Anyone who scans for zero-width characters can extract the secret. Use real encryption if confidentiality matters.

Will the hidden text survive copy-paste? Usually yes, but some platforms (email clients, certain chat apps) strip zero-width characters. Test before relying on it.

Does this work with non-ASCII secrets? Yes. The tool encodes UTF-16 code units, so emoji and most Unicode characters are supported.

Does this tool upload my text? No. All encoding and decoding happens locally in your browser.