Encoding Tools

URL Encode / Decode

Percent-encoding both ways — make any text safe in a URL, or turn %20-soup back into readable text.

In short

URL-encode and decode text online: percent-encode special characters for query strings and decode %XX sequences (and + signs) back to plain text. Free.

By NaveenKumar T · Updated 18 Sep 2026

Learn: URL Encoding Explained: %20 vs +, Reserved Characters, When to Encode

Encode & decode in one tool
Handles + as space on decode
Full UTF-8 support

Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you paste or open here is uploaded, logged, or stored.How we handle data →

Example

URL Encode / Decode: input and output

A search query typed by a user, encoded for a ?q= parameter.

Query value

Crème brûlée & tarte "tatin" (2+2=4) #dessert/menu?

Percent-encoded

Cr%C3%A8me%20br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e%20%26%20tarte%20%22tatin%22%20(2%2B2%3D4)%20%23dessert%2Fmenu%3F

Spaces became %20 rather than +, the literal + became %2B, each accented letter expanded to two bytes (è → %C3%A8), and the parentheses were left bare — encodeURIComponent treats ( ) ! * ' ~ as unreserved.

Learn more

How percent-encoding works

URLs permit a narrow character set, so everything else travels as percent-encoding: each byte of the character's UTF-8 form becomes %XX. A space is %20, an ampersand %26, the emoji ☕ a three-byte %E2%98%95. Encoding here uses encodeURIComponent semantics — the right choice for query-string values, where &, =, and ? must be escaped to avoid being read as separators.

Decoding reverses the process and additionally converts + to a space, because HTML form encoding (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) uses + for spaces — the variant you actually meet in query strings copied from browsers.

Reserved and unreserved characters

RFC 3986 §2.2 splits every URL character into three groups, and knowing which group a character falls into explains most of what a URL encoder does. Unreserved characters never need encoding; reserved characters are structural and encoding them changes their meaning; everything else is encoded on sight.

RFC 3986 character classes and this tool's Encode output
Class	Characters	encodeURIComponent output
Unreserved	A–Z a–z 0–9 - . _ ~	Left as-is
gen-delims (reserved)	: / ? # [ ] @	Percent-encoded (e.g. / → %2F)
sub-delims (reserved)	! $ & ' ( ) * + , ; =	Percent-encoded, except ! * ' ( ) which encodeURIComponent leaves bare
Everything else	Space, non-ASCII, control characters, …	Percent-encoded as UTF-8 bytes

Help

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about the URL Encode / Decode.

01How do I use URL Encode / Decode?

Paste your text or encoded string, choose Encode or Decode, and press Convert. Encoding percent-escapes everything unsafe in URLs; decoding reverses %XX sequences and treats + as a space (form encoding).

02Why did my decoded URL fail with 'malformed' errors?

A % in the input that isn't followed by two hex digits — usually a URL that was already decoded once, or one that was truncated mid-sequence. The tool reports it rather than guessing; check whether you're decoding twice.

03Does URL encoding turn spaces into + or %20, and what happens to a real plus sign?

Encode emits %20 — encodeURIComponent follows RFC 3986, where + is not a space. Decode accepts both, converting + to a space before decoding because browsers form-encode query strings that way. The trap: a literal plus in Decode input becomes a space, so a value that must keep its + needs to arrive as %2B. Encode also leaves - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ) bare and encodes / as %2F, so feed it one parameter value, never a whole URL.

04encodeURI or encodeURIComponent — which does this tool use, and when do I want the other?

This page uses encodeURIComponent semantics, the right choice for a single query-string or path VALUE — it escapes /, ?, &, = and # because those characters would otherwise be read as URL structure. encodeURI is for encoding an already-assembled URL: it leaves /, ?, &, = and # alone since they're doing their normal job there. Feeding a whole URL to this tool corrupts it, because every / becomes %2F.

05How do I encode a whole URL rather than one parameter?

Don't encode the whole thing — encode each value that goes into it, then assemble the URL around the encoded pieces. Encoding a complete URL with this tool turns its own / and ? into %2F and %3F, breaking the structure the browser needs to parse it. Build the base path and query string by hand, encoding only the parts that come from user input or free text.

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