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URL Encoder & Decoder

Percent-encode or decode text, query values and full URLs, and inspect URL parameters.

Runs locally in your browser – your data is not uploaded

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About the URL Encoder & Decoder

URLs may only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Spaces, accented letters, emoji and characters with a special meaning in URLs – such as &, = , ? and # – have to be written as percent-encoded bytes, for example a space becomes %20 and "é" becomes %C3%A9. This tool converts text to that format and back.

It uses the UTF-8 encoding defined by the URL standard, the same rules as the encodeURIComponent and encodeURI functions in JavaScript. A built-in URL inspector also splits a full address into protocol, host, path, fragment and a decoded list of query parameters.

How to use it

  1. Choose Encode or Decode.
  2. Pick the mode: "Component" for a single query value or path segment, "Full URL" to keep the structure of a complete address, or "Form" for application/x-www-form-urlencoded data where spaces are written as +.
  3. Type or paste your text into the input box. The result updates as you type.
  4. Use Copy to put the result on your clipboard, or Swap to move the result into the input and reverse the direction.
  5. Paste a complete URL to see its parts and decoded query parameters in the URL inspector below the result.

Features

  • Three encoding modes: Component (encodeURIComponent), full URL (encodeURI) and HTML form encoding with + for spaces.
  • Full Unicode support: Non-Latin scripts and emoji are encoded as UTF-8 bytes, exactly as browsers do.
  • Clear error messages: When decoding fails, the tool tells you where the malformed % sequence is or whether the bytes are not valid UTF-8.
  • URL inspector: Shows host, port, path, fragment and every query parameter in decoded form, including repeated keys.
  • Private: Everything happens in your browser, so URLs containing tokens or personal data are not sent anywhere.

Examples

Encoding a search query

To pass "coffee & cake" as a value in ?q=…, encode it in Component mode: the result is coffee%20%26%20cake. Without encoding, the & would start a new parameter.

Reading a tracking link

Paste a long link such as https://example.com/?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fshop.example%2Fcart%3Fid%3D7 to see that the redirect parameter decodes to https://shop.example/cart?id=7.

Decoding form data

Data posted by an HTML form looks like name=Jane+Doe&city=S%C3%A3o+Paulo. Decode it in Form mode to get "name=Jane Doe&city=São Paulo".

Limitations and notes

  • Full URL mode does not encode reserved characters such as / ? # & =, so it is not suitable for encoding a single parameter value – use Component mode for that.
  • Decoding "%2F" in Full URL mode keeps it as %2F, because decodeURI intentionally leaves reserved characters escaped.
  • Percent-encoded data in legacy encodings (for example ISO-8859-1 or Shift_JIS) cannot be decoded, because the tool expects UTF-8 bytes.
  • The URL inspector only works with absolute URLs that start with a scheme such as https:.
  • Internationalized domain names are shown in the punycode form returned by the browser (for example xn--…).

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURIComponent escapes every character that has a special meaning in a URL, so it is safe for one value. encodeURI leaves characters like : / ? # & = untouched so that a complete URL keeps working. The Component and Full URL modes correspond to these two functions.

Should a space be %20 or +?

Both appear in practice. %20 is correct everywhere in a URL. The + sign only means a space in the query string of HTML form submissions (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). Use Form mode when you work with that format.

Why do I get "not valid UTF-8"?

The % sequences are syntactically correct but the bytes they describe do not form valid UTF-8 text – for example %C3 without a following continuation byte. The data may have been encoded with a different character set or been cut off.

Is my URL sent to a server?

No. Encoding, decoding and parsing are done by JavaScript in this page. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded and the tool keeps working.

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