What are zero-width characters?

Invisible Unicode characters like zero-width spaces or joiners that can hide in copy-pasted text.

Can I convert smart quotes to plain ASCII?

Yes, enable 'Normalize smart quotes/dashes to ASCII' to convert them automatically.

Will this remove emoji?

Enabling 'Remove all non-ASCII characters' will strip emoji along with other non-ASCII text.

Is my data uploaded to a server?

No. This tool runs entirely in your browser using standard web APIs, so your input never leaves your device and nothing is logged or stored on our servers.

Does it work offline and on mobile?

Yes. Once the page has loaded it keeps working without a network connection, and the layout is responsive so it stays usable on phones and tablets.

Text Encoding Detector

Detect non-ASCII, invisible, smart-quote, and emoji characters.

Support

Works Offline

Privacy First

No Login

No API

Strip invisible/zero-width characters

Normalize smart quotes/dashes to ASCII

Remove all non-ASCII characters

Input text

Cleaned output

This is "smart quotes" -- an em dash and azero-widthspace, plus an emoji 🎉.

Total chars

Non-ASCII

Invisible

Smart quotes

Emoji

Findings

Char	Code point	Type
“	U+201C	Smart punctuation
”	U+201D	Smart punctuation
—	U+2014	Smart punctuation
•	U+200B	Zero-width space
•	U+200B	Zero-width space
🎉	U+1F389	Emoji

About the Text Encoding Detector

Scan text for non-ASCII characters, invisible or zero-width characters, smart quotes and dashes, and emoji, with a detailed findings table and one-click cleanup options to normalize or strip them.

Examples

Smart quotes

“Hello”

Output

"Hello"

Keyboard shortcuts

Copy the main outputCtrl / ⌘ + Shift + C
Download the resultCtrl / ⌘ + S
Share this toolCtrl / ⌘ + Shift + S
Reset the inputsAlt + R
Open the tool search paletteCtrl / ⌘ + K

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Frequently asked questions

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-08-06 · Runs entirely in your browser