Zero Width Text Decoder

Extract and reveal hidden messages from text containing zero-width characters

Paste Text with Hidden Data

Decoded Secret Message

Find and read text hidden in invisible characters

Some messages are concealed by inserting characters that take up no visible space between or after normal words. To the eye the text looks ordinary, yet it carries extra data. This decoder scans the text you paste, extracts the invisible characters and translates them back into readable words. It is built to read messages made with the Zero Width Text Generator on this site.

How to reveal a message

Copy the suspicious or generated text and paste it into Paste Text with Hidden Data. Copy the full text, including the very end, since hidden characters are often appended there.
Click Reveal Secret Message.
Read the outcome in Decoded Secret Message. If no hidden characters exist you will see No hidden message found in this text.

Editing the input hides the earlier result so the display always matches the text in the box.

The encoding it understands

The tool searches for runs of three specific characters: zero width space, zero width non-joiner and zero width joiner. In this scheme the first stands for a binary 0, the second for a binary 1 and the joiner acts as a separator between letters. Each group of eight bits is converted to a character code and then to a letter. Only the first uninterrupted run of these characters in the text is decoded.

When people use a decoder like this

Checking that a message you produced with the generator can be recovered.
Testing whether a piece of text you received contains zero-width characters at all.
Learning how simple text steganography works through a hands-on example.
Investigating why a copied string looks longer or behaves oddly in a search or a form.

Limitations

Different tools use different mappings. Text hidden by another generator may decode to nonsense or say nothing was found, because this tool only knows one scheme.
If a stray zero-width character appears earlier in the text, for example inserted by a word processor, it is taken as the first run and the real message after it may be missed. Try pasting only the portion at the end of the text.
Many chat apps, social networks and email systems strip zero-width characters. If they were removed on the way, the hidden data is gone and cannot be restored.
Hidden text of this kind is not encrypted. Anyone with a decoder can read it.

Decoding is done locally in the page with JavaScript, and nothing needs to be installed.

Related Articles

Invisible and Zero-Width Characters Explained

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can it decode any zero-width message?

Only messages that follow the same scheme as this site's generator: zero width space for 0, zero width non-joiner for 1 and zero width joiner as a separator. Other tools may use different mappings and will not decode correctly here.

What does No hidden message found mean?

The pasted text contains none of the three zero-width characters this tool looks for. Either nothing is hidden, the characters were stripped when the text was copied or sent, or a different kind of hidden character was used.

Why is the decoded message gibberish?

This can happen if the first run of zero-width characters is not the message, if part of the message was lost when copying, or if another tool with a different mapping created it. Try pasting only the end of the text.

Will it find several hidden messages?

No. It decodes only the first continuous run of zero-width characters it finds. If a text contains more than one hidden segment, the later ones are ignored by this tool.

Does decoding need an internet connection or upload?

The decoding is JavaScript that runs on the page, working directly on the text in the box. Pasting text and clicking Reveal Secret Message calculates the result in the same window and does not involve a form submission.