About

About Invisible Text Lab

A reference for Unicode invisible characters, built on data generated from the Unicode Character Database rather than copied from other sites.

Who we are

Invisible Text Lab is a small, independent reference for Unicode characters that render as nothing. It is written and built by Priya Kumar, a developer and writer, with no company, sponsor or advertiser behind it.

There is no backend. Every tool on this site runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you paste into a generator, detector or remover is uploaded, logged or stored — there is no server for it to reach.

What we offer

Three things: the characters themselves, the tools that handle them, and the per-platform guides that say where each one works.

Our mission

To make one subject correct on the internet. Invisible characters are documented almost entirely by sites copying each other, and the errors compound with every copy.

So every Unicode property here is generated from the Unicode Character Database version 16.0.0 rather than written by hand. Two errors that surfaced while building: NFKC folds 16 of the 17 Space Separator characters to a plain space, and U+3164 Hangul Filler — the character most widely recommended for blank usernames — folds to U+1160 under NFKC. Neither fact appeared on any competing site we surveyed.

Any property claim here can be reproduced in three lines of Python. We would rather you check than trust us.

Disclaimer

Unicode properties on this site are exact. Platform behaviour is not guaranteed. The two are different kinds of claim and should be read differently.

  • Generated and exact: character properties read from UCD 16.0.0 — category, White_Space, NFKC result, byte length, entities and escapes
  • Compiled and subject to change: whether a given app accepts a given character today. Platforms change validation without notice, so test in the field before spending a rename card, token or diamond on it
  • Not professional advice: this site is provided as-is for information. You are responsible for complying with the terms of any platform you use it on
  • No affiliation: platform and game names are used descriptively for identification. Invisible Text Lab is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them

What this site is not for

Invisible characters have legitimate uses and a few illegitimate ones. A blank username, a spacer in a bio and an empty message break no rule on any major platform.

Using a zero-width character to defeat a moderation filter, to impersonate another account, or to hide a variable name in source code is a different matter. We document those mechanisms because defenders need to recognise them, and we do not publish instructions for carrying them out.

Getting in touch

Corrections reach us fastest through the contact page. They are welcome, particularly on platform behaviour, where a field report beats our best estimate. Reach us through the contact page.

Written by , developer and writer.

Last reviewed