URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode and decode URLs online for free. Instantly encode special characters or decode percent-encoded URLs.
About URL Encoder / Decoder
URL encoding (percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in URLs into a safe format. For example, a space becomes %20, and & becomes %26. This is necessary because URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. URL decoding reverses this process, turning %20 back into a space. This tool uses encodeURIComponent / decodeURIComponent, which encodes all characters except letters, digits, -, _, ., and ~.
FAQ
- What is URL encoding?
- URL encoding (percent-encoding) replaces unsafe ASCII characters with a % followed by two hexadecimal digits. For example, space → %20, / → %2F, ? → %3F.
- When do I need to encode a URL?
- You need to encode a URL when passing query parameters that contain special characters like spaces, &, =, or non-ASCII characters (e.g., Korean, Chinese). Without encoding, these characters can break the URL structure.
- What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?
- encodeURI encodes a full URL and preserves characters like /, ?, &, and =. encodeURIComponent encodes a URL component (like a query value) and encodes those characters too. This tool uses encodeURIComponent.
- How do I decode a percent-encoded URL?
- Switch to Decode mode, paste your percent-encoded URL (e.g., hello%20world), and the tool instantly converts it back to the original text (hello world).
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