This study develops a highly transparent ohmic contact using phosphorus doped ZnO with current spreading for p-GaN to increase the optical output power of nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The phosphorus doped ZnO transparentohmic contact layer was prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering with post-deposition annealing. The transmittance ofthe phosphorus doped ZnO exceeds 90% in the region of 440nm to 500nm. The specific contact resistance of the phosphorusdoped ZnO on p-GaN was determined to be 7.82×10-3Ω·cm2 after annealing at 700oC. GaN LED chips with dimensions of300×300µm fabricated with the phosphorus doped ZnO transparent ohmic contact were developed and produced a 2.7Vincrease in forward voltage under a nominal forward current of 20mA compared to GaN LED with Ni/Au Ohmic contact.However, the output power increased by 25% at the injection current of 20mA compared to GaN LED with the Ni/Au contactscheme.