URL Encoder / Decoder
Percent-encode text for URLs and query strings, or decode %XX sequences back to UTF-8 text. Choose whether reserved characters like / ? & = are encoded. Spaces become + as in HTML form encoding. Text files can be dropped in, and everything is processed in your browser.
What is URL encoding?
URL encoding, also called percent-encoding, replaces characters that are not allowed or have a special meaning in a URL with % followed by two hexadecimal digits. Non-ASCII text such as accented letters or Japanese is first converted to UTF-8 bytes, and each byte is written as %XX. For example, é becomes %C3%A9.
This tool encodes text into that form and decodes percent-encoded strings back into readable text.
How to use
- Enter text into Raw data, or drop a text file onto it.
- Choose whether to check Also encode reserved characters (see below).
- Click Encode. The result appears in Encoded data.
- To decode, paste an encoded string into Encoded data and click Decode.
- Use the buttons in the corner of each editor to copy, download, or view full screen.
Features
- Encode and decode in both directions with the Encode / Decode buttons
- Also encode reserved characters on (default): encodes
/ ? : @ & = + $ , ; #too, like JavaScript'sencodeURIComponent. Use this for a single query parameter value or path segment. - Option off: keeps the URL structure readable, like
encodeURI, and only encodes spaces, non-ASCII characters and other unsafe characters. Use this for a whole URL.+is still encoded as%2B. - Spaces are encoded as
+, and+is decoded as a space, matchingapplication/x-www-form-urlencoded - UTF-8 for non-ASCII characters
- Clear error messages for malformed input such as an incomplete
%XXsequence - Text file input, with copy and download buttons on both sides
Examples
| Input | Reserved characters encoded | Not encoded |
|---|---|---|
hello world & more | hello+world+%26+more | hello+world+&+more |
a+b=c | a%2Bb%3Dc | a%2Bb=c |
東京 | %E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC | %E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC |
https://example.com/?q=café | https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2F%3Fq%3Dcaf%C3%A9 | https://example.com/?q=caf%C3%A9 |
FAQ
Why are spaces encoded as + instead of %20?
This tool follows HTML form encoding, where a space is +. Most servers decode both + and %20 in query strings as a space. If you need %20 (for example in a URL path), replace + in the output. A literal + in the input is always encoded as %2B, so it is not confused with a space.
Why are characters like !, *, ( and ) left as they are?
They are allowed in URLs and are not encoded by the browser's standard functions, so the output matches what JavaScript's encodeURIComponent / encodeURI produce. Letters, digits and - _ . ~ are never encoded.
I get "Malformed percent-encoding" when decoding. What does it mean?
The input contains a % that is not followed by two hex digits, or the decoded bytes are not valid UTF-8 (for example text that was encoded as Shift_JIS). Check the string or encode the % itself as %25.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. Encoding and decoding run in your browser.