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URL Encode and Decode

Percent-encode text for URLs, or decode it back.

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  • No Sign Up
  • Works in Your Browser

URL encode/decode

Percent-encode and decode URLs

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How to use the URL encode/decode

Three steps, all in your browser.

  1. 1

    Paste your input

    Type or paste your code or data. Press Sample to try an example.

  2. 2

    Choose the direction

    Encode or decode. Errors point at what's wrong with the input.

  3. 3

    Copy the result

    Copy the output in one click. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

URL Encode and Decode: what to know

URL encode/decode converts text to percent-encoding and back. Characters that aren't allowed in a URL, or that have a special meaning there, are written as % followed by two hex digits for each UTF-8 byte: a space becomes %20, & becomes %26 and é becomes %C3%A9. Decoding turns these sequences back into readable text.

There are two common levels of encoding. Encoding a component, as JavaScript's encodeURIComponent does, escapes everything except letters, digits and - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ), which is right for a single query parameter value or path segment. Encoding a full URL, as encodeURI does, leaves the characters that structure a URL (: / ? # & =) alone so the URL still works.

In HTML form submissions (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), a space is written as + instead of %20. Both are common in query strings, but only %20 means a space everywhere in a URL.

Popular uses

  • Building query strings with special characters
  • Reading encoded URLs from logs and analytics
  • Debugging redirect URLs passed as parameters
  • Encoding values for API requests and webhooks

Tips for the best result

  • Encode each parameter value separately, not the whole URL, or the & and = that separate parameters get escaped too.
  • %2520 in a URL means it was encoded twice: %25 is the encoded % sign.
  • Decoding a + as a space is only right for form-encoded query strings.

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Frequently asked questions