URL encode and decode text the right way
The URL encoder and decoder converts text to and from percent-encoding, the %20-style escapes that let spaces, symbols and non-English characters travel safely inside a URL. Paste a search term, a redirect URL, an API parameter or a whole messy link, and get the encoded or decoded version instantly.
Not all URL encoding is the same. A value inside a query string needs & and = escaped, a full URL must keep them, and HTML forms turn spaces into +. This tool offers each style by name, decodes with clear errors for broken % sequences, and breaks any URL into protocol, host, path, query parameters and fragment so you can see exactly what a link contains.
It runs entirely in your browser, so URLs containing tokens, session IDs or personal data are never sent anywhere.
How to use the URL Encode / Decode
- Choose Encode or Decode.
- When encoding, pick an Encoding style: Component for a single value, Full URL for a complete address, Form data for HTML form bodies, or Strict RFC 3986.
- When decoding, decide whether + means a space, and whether malformed sequences should stop with an error or be left in place.
- Paste your text. Tick Process each line separately to convert a list of values in one go.
- Copy the result, or look at the URL breakdown to read every query parameter decoded.
URL Encode / Decode features
Four encoding styles
encodeURIComponent, encodeURI, application/x-www-form-urlencoded and strict RFC 3986 — each labelled with when to use it.
UTF-8 everywhere
Characters such as é, ₹, 日本 and emoji are encoded as their UTF-8 bytes, which is what browsers and servers expect.
Precise decode errors
A stray % or an invalid UTF-8 sequence is reported with its exact position and a likely cause, instead of a generic “URI malformed”.
Lenient mode
Decode everything that can be decoded while leaving broken sequences untouched — handy for logs and half-encoded links.
Double-encoding detection
If the decoded result still contains %XX, the tool offers to decode again; if you are about to encode already-encoded text, it warns you.
URL breakdown
See the protocol, host, port, path, fragment and a table of decoded query and fragment parameters, including repeated keys.
Which characters get encoded?
RFC 3986 lets letters, digits and - . _ ~ appear as they are. Everything else is converted to UTF-8 bytes and written as % plus two hex digits. The styles differ in what they leave alone:
| Character | Component | Full URL | Form data | RFC 3986 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| space | %20 | %20 | + | %20 |
& = ? / # | encoded | kept | encoded | encoded |
! ' ( ) | kept | kept | encoded | encoded |
* | kept | kept | kept | %2A |
~ | kept | kept | %7E | kept |
é | %C3%A9 | %C3%A9 | %C3%A9 | %C3%A9 |
Common URL encoding mistakes
- Using encodeURI for a parameter value. It leaves
&and=alone, so a value likeR&Dsplits your query string in two. Use Component for values. - Encoding twice.
%20becomes%2520. If you see%25in a URL, something encoded an already-encoded string. - Forgetting that + is only a space in forms. In a path,
+is a literal plus sign; in a query string sent by a form it means a space. - Mixing character sets. Old systems sometimes produced
%E9for é (Latin-1) instead of UTF-8’s%C3%A9. Strict decoding reports this as invalid UTF-8.
URL Encode / Decode FAQ
What is URL encoding?
URL encoding, also called percent-encoding, replaces characters that are not allowed or have special meaning in a URL with a % followed by two hexadecimal digits for each UTF-8 byte. A space becomes %20 and é becomes %C3%A9.
Should I use encodeURI or encodeURIComponent?
Use encodeURIComponent (the Component style) for anything you insert into a URL — a query value, a path segment or a redirect URL passed as a parameter. Use encodeURI only to clean up a complete URL that you do not want to break apart.
Why does decoding fail with “Malformed escape”?
The text contains a % sign that is not followed by two hex digits, such as “50% off”. Encode a literal percent sign as %25, or tick “Leave malformed % sequences as they are” to decode the rest.
How do I decode a whole URL with its parameters?
Switch to Decode and paste the URL. The decoded text appears on the right, and the URL breakdown lists every query parameter with its decoded value. For deeper analysis, the URL Parser also checks the domain and path.
Is URL encoding the same as Base64?
No. Percent-encoding keeps readable characters readable and only escapes unsafe ones. Base64 rewrites all data into a 64-character alphabet; use the Base64 encoder for that, or the HTML Entity Encoder for text inside HTML.
Is my data sent to a server?
No. The URL encode and decode functions run in your browser using its built-in JavaScript, and nothing is uploaded or stored.