What is Leetspeak?

Leetspeak (also known as "1337 speak" or "leet") is a form of internet slang that replaces standard letters with numbers and special characters that resemble them. The term "leet" comes from "elite," originally used by hackers and gamers in the 1980s to create a coded language that was difficult for outsiders to understand. Today, it's used playfully across internet culture, gaming communities, and as a nostalgic reference to early internet communication.

Tool description

This tool converts regular text to leetspeak and back again. You can choose from four different difficulty levels that determine how aggressively characters are replaced:

  • Basic: Simple number replacements (a→4, e→3, i→1, o→0, s→5, t→7)
  • Intermediate: Additional common substitutions (b→8, g→9, z→2)
  • Advanced: Multi-character replacements (m→|\/|, n→|\|, w→\/\/)
  • Extreme: Complex patterns that create the most elaborate leetspeak (a→/-\, h→|-|, m→/\/\)

Examples

Basic level:

  • Input: Hello World → Output: H3ll0 W0rld
  • Input: Testing → Output: T357ing

Intermediate level:

  • Input: Gamers → Output: 94m3r5

Advanced level:

  • Input: Welcome → Output: W3l(0|\\/|3

Extreme level:

  • Input: Hacker → Output: |-|/-\\(|<[-|2

Features

  • Bidirectional conversion (normal text ↔ leetspeak)
  • Four difficulty levels for different styles
  • Preserves spaces and punctuation
  • Real-time conversion as you type
  • Copy output with one click

Use cases

  • Creating gaming usernames with a retro internet aesthetic
  • Writing messages that evoke nostalgic early-2000s internet culture
  • Generating stylized text for social media posts or bios
  • Learning about internet culture history and character substitution systems
  • Creating coded messages for fun communication with friends