URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode or decode URLs and URL components using encodeURIComponent and decodeURIComponent.
What is URL Encoder/Decoder?
A URL Encoder/Decoder is a developer tool that converts special characters in URLs to their percent-encoded equivalents and vice versa. URLs can only contain a limited set of safe ASCII characters — any other character, including spaces, ampersands, equals signs, and non-ASCII Unicode characters, must be percent-encoded (also called URL encoding or percent encoding) before being included in a URL.
URL encoding replaces unsafe characters with a percent sign followed by their two-digit hexadecimal ASCII code. For example, a space becomes %20, an ampersand becomes %26, and the copyright symbol © becomes %C2%A9. This ensures URLs remain valid across all browsers, servers, and network intermediaries regardless of the characters in the original data.
Developers use URL encoding constantly when building query strings, constructing API requests, encoding redirect URLs, working with form data, and handling user-provided input that gets appended to URLs. URL decoding is equally important for reading encoded parameters in logs, debugging requests, and making sense of complex query strings.
How to Use URL Encoder/Decoder
- 1Step 1: Paste your text or URL into the input field. For encoding, enter the raw text with special characters. For decoding, paste the percent-encoded URL or query string you want to read.
- 2Step 2: Select whether you want to 'Encode' (convert special characters to %XX format) or 'Decode' (convert %XX sequences back to readable characters). Some tools auto-detect the direction.
- 3Step 3: Click the action button and review the output. Encoded URLs will show percent-encoded sequences for spaces and special characters. Decoded output will be the original readable text.
- 4Step 4: For query string work, note that encoding the full URL will also encode characters like ? and & which are structural. Encode only the parameter values, not the entire URL structure.
- 5Step 5: Copy the encoded or decoded result and use it in your code, API client, browser address bar, or wherever the correct URL format is required for your use case.
Benefits of Using URL Encoder/Decoder
- ✓Fixes Broken URLs: Encoding special characters prevents URL parsing errors when user-generated content like names, emails, or search terms is appended to query strings dynamically.
- ✓API Request Building: Many REST APIs require properly encoded query parameters. Encoding values before appending them to request URLs prevents 400 Bad Request errors from special characters.
- ✓Log Analysis: Server and CDN logs contain URL-encoded request paths. Decoding them makes log entries readable and makes pattern analysis and debugging far more practical.
- ✓Form Data Handling: HTML form submissions use URL encoding for POST bodies (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). Understanding this encoding helps debug form submission issues.
- ✓Internationalization: URL encoding properly handles non-Latin characters like accented letters, Chinese, Arabic, and emoji in URLs, enabling truly international web applications.
- ✓Security Awareness: Understanding URL encoding helps developers recognize double-encoding attacks and URL injection attempts in security-sensitive applications.
Example
About URL Encoder/Decoder
URL Encoder/Decoder encodes special characters in a string to make it safe for use in URLs, and decodes percent-encoded strings back to readable text. It supports both standard URL encoding and component encoding. Essential for web developers working with query strings and APIs.
- Encodes special characters for URLs
- Decodes percent-encoded strings
- Component and full URL encoding modes
- Instant conversion