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 transparent ohmic contact layer was prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering with post-deposition annealing. The transmittance of the phosphorus doped ZnO exceeds 90% in the region of 440 nm to 500 nm. The specific contact resistance of the phosphorus doped ZnO on p-GaN was determined to be 7.82 × 10-3 Ω·cm2 after annealing at 700 oC. GaN LED chips with dimensions of 300 × 300 μm fabricated with the phosphorus doped ZnO transparent ohmic contact were developed and produced a 2.7 V increase in forward voltage under a nominal forward current of 20 mA compared to GaN LED with Ni/Au Ohmic contact. However, the output power increased by 25% at the injection current of 20 mA compared to GaN LED with the Ni/Au contact scheme.