Typecase

Discord Text Formatter

Discord does not use Unicode tricks — it has its own markdown. This wraps your text in the right syntax, including the ANSI code blocks that produce actual colour.

Text colour 0 chars
Bold
Italic
Bold italic
Underline
Underline + bold
Strikethrough
Spoiler
Inline code
Big header
Small header
Subtext
Quote
Coloured text (ANSI code block)

What this Discord formatter does

It wraps your text in the markers Discord looks for, so you can copy a ready-made line straight into the message box. The markers stay visible in the box while you type and disappear when the message sends, leaving the formatting behind.

How it actually works

Every other tool on this site changes your characters, because the platforms they target have no formatting system to speak of. Discord is the exception: it has a proper one, so there is nothing to fake.

Discord uses a variant of Markdown. When you send a message, the client scans it for pairs of markers — two asterisks around a phrase means bold, two underscores means underline, two vertical bars means a spoiler — and renders the text between them accordingly, hiding the markers themselves. The formatting is applied at display time by each reader's client, which is why it can be undone by editing the message, and why it never survives being copied out to another app.

The final row does something different again. A code block tagged ansi tells Discord to interpret ANSI escape sequences, the same colour codes terminals have used for decades. An invisible escape character followed by a colour number switches the colour on, and a reset code switches it off. This is the only supported way to get coloured text in a Discord message, and it only works inside that code block — you cannot colour a word in an ordinary sentence.

Two caveats on colour. ANSI rendering has historically been inconsistent across Discord's mobile apps, so a colour block that looks right on desktop may appear as plain monospace on a phone. And because it is a code block, the text is set in a monospace font on its own lines. Test it in your own server before relying on it for an announcement.

Where people use it

  • Rules and information channels, where headers and bold lead lines make a long post scannable.
  • Announcements, using a coloured ANSI block to make one line unmissable.
  • Spoiler tags for plot discussion, which hide the text behind a click.
  • Quoting someone in a busy channel, so it is clear what is being replied to.
  • Subtext for disclaimers and small print under a main message.

If you want styled text in a place Discord markdown cannot reach — your display name, a channel name, or the server description — markdown will not help, because those fields are never parsed for it. That is where the Unicode tools elsewhere on this site are the right answer.

Questions about Discord formatting

Why does markdown not work in my Discord nickname or channel name?

Because those fields are never parsed for formatting. Discord only applies markdown to message content, so asterisks typed into a nickname stay as literal asterisks. To style a name you need characters that are already styled, which is what the Unicode generators on this site produce.

How do I show asterisks without them turning into bold?

Put a backslash in front of each marker you want taken literally. Typing a backslash before an asterisk makes Discord display the asterisk and skip the formatting. The same works for underscores, tildes and backticks.

Does coloured text work on mobile?

Not dependably. Coloured text relies on ANSI escape codes inside a code block, and support for rendering those has varied between Discord's desktop and mobile clients. On a client that does not support it the text still appears, just without colour. Test before using it for anything important.

Can I combine formats?

Yes, by nesting the markers. Bold italic is three asterisks, and the underline plus bold row above shows how underline markers wrap around bold ones. Spoilers can contain any other formatting inside them. The only combination that does not work is anything inside a code block, which deliberately renders its contents literally.

Why did my formatting disappear when I pasted it elsewhere?

Because the formatting was never in the text. Discord stores the markers and renders them for each reader, so copying the displayed message gives you plain characters. If you need styling that travels between apps, you need Unicode characters rather than markdown.

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