URL Encoder & Decoder
Percent-encode text for safe use in URLs, or decode an encoded URL back to readable text.
Processing: This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your input and any file you open stay on your device — nothing is uploaded to a server.
How to use the url encoder & decoder
- Paste the text or URL.
- Choose component mode for a single value, or full URL for a whole address.
- Switch to Decode to reverse an encoded string.
About this tool
URLs may only contain a limited set of characters. Everything else — spaces, accents, ampersands inside a value, emoji — has to be percent-encoded as its UTF-8 bytes in hexadecimal. Get this wrong and a parameter silently truncates at the first & or #.
The two modes matter. Component encoding escapes reserved characters such as & = ? / and is what you want for a single parameter value. Full-URL encoding leaves the structural characters alone so an entire address stays usable. Choosing the wrong one either breaks the URL or fails to protect the value.
Common uses
- Building a query string by hand for testing.
- Reading a redirect URL that has been encoded twice.
- Making a search term safe to append to an endpoint.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does a space become %20 sometimes and + other times?
- Percent-encoding uses %20 everywhere. The + convention comes from HTML form submission, where it means a space only inside a query string — never in a path.
- What is double encoding?
- Encoding an already-encoded string, so % becomes %25 and %20 becomes %2520. If your decoded text still shows %20, decode a second time.
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