Key Features

⚡ Fast Processing

All operations run locally in your browser for instant results.

🔒 Privacy Protected

Your data never leaves your browser. No server storage.

How to Use URL Encoder/Decoder

Paste Your Input

Enter or paste your URL into the input area.

Choose an Action

Select "Encode" or "Decode" as needed.

Get Result

View the result in the output area and copy or download as needed.

Understanding URL Encoding

URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in URLs into a safe format using % followed by two hexadecimal digits. Below are common examples showing how characters are transformed.

Character Encoding Examples

Space Character

The space character (ASCII 32) is encoded as %20. In query strings, spaces are sometimes represented as + instead. This is the most common encoding you'll encounter.

Input:

Hello World

Output:

Hello%20World

Explanation: The space character is converted to %20 in standard URL encoding. In form data (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), spaces may be represented as + instead.

Use Case: Search queries like "hello world", file names with spaces, or any text containing whitespace in URLs.

Special Characters

Characters like ?, =, and & have special meaning in URLs and must be encoded when used as literal values to avoid breaking the URL structure.

Input:

?q=hello&lang=en

Output:

%3Fq%3Dhello%26lang%3Den

Explanation: These characters define URL structure: ? starts the query string, & separates parameters, and = assigns values. When used as literal content, they must be encoded.

Use Case: Passing mathematical expressions (x=1&y=2), regex patterns, or nested query strings as parameter values.

Currency Symbols

Currency symbols like $, €, and £ are non-ASCII or reserved characters that must be encoded to ensure they display correctly across different systems and browsers.

Input:

price=$99.99&currency=€50

Output:

price%3D%2499.99%26currency%3D%E2%82%AC50

Explanation: The dollar sign $ is a reserved character encoded as %24. The Euro symbol € is a non-ASCII character requiring UTF-8 multi-byte encoding (%E2%82%AC).

Use Case: E-commerce product URLs with prices, currency filter parameters, or international pricing in API requests.

Emoji Characters

Emoji are 4-byte UTF-8 characters, so each emoji becomes 4 encoded percent sequences. They're increasingly common in social media URLs and messaging apps.

Input:

🌍🚀

Output:

%F0%9F%8C%8D%F0%9F%9A%80

Explanation: Each emoji uses 4 bytes in UTF-8 encoding, resulting in 4 percent-encoded sequences. For example, 🌍 (U+1F30D) becomes %F0%9F%8C%8D.

Use Case: Social media sharing URLs with emoji, chat application message parameters, or user-generated content containing emoji.

Common URL Encoding Patterns

Full URL with Query Parameters

When encoding an entire URL, all special characters including protocol separators (://), path separators (/), and query delimiters (?&=) are encoded. This is useful when you need to pass a complete URL as a parameter value.

Input:

https://example.com/search?q=hello world&tag=foo bar

Output:

https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dhello%20world%26tag%3Dfoo%20bar

Explanation: Every special character is encoded: : → %3A, / → %2F, ? → %3F, = → %3D, & → %26, spaces → %20.

Use Case: Redirect URLs in authentication flows, callback URLs in OAuth, or embedding URLs as API request parameters.

JSON in URL Parameter

When passing JSON data as a URL parameter (common in APIs), all structural characters must be encoded to prevent them from being interpreted as URL syntax.

Input:

{"name":"John","age":30}

Output:

%7B%22name%22%3A%22John%22%2C%22age%22%3A30%7D

Explanation: All JSON structural characters are encoded: braces {} → %7B%7D, quotes " → %22, colons : → %3A, commas , → %2C.

Use Case: GraphQL queries in GET requests, complex filter parameters, or configuration objects passed via URL.

File Path with Special Characters

File paths often contain spaces and special characters that must be encoded for safe URL transmission. Note that parentheses are not encoded by default but may cause issues on some servers.

Input:

/files/my report (final).pdf

Output:

/files/my%20report%20(final).pdf

Explanation: Spaces are encoded as %20. Parentheses () are NOT encoded by encodeURIComponent because they're considered safe, though some servers may require manual encoding.

Use Case: File download links with descriptive names, CDN asset URLs, or document references in web applications.

Already Partially Encoded URL

URLs can be partially encoded (e.g., only spaces encoded as %20). The decoder will convert all percent-encoded sequences back to their original characters, regardless of how many levels of encoding exist.

Input:

https://example.com/search?q=hello%20world

Output:

https://example.com/search?q=hello world

Explanation: The decoder identifies %20 sequences and converts them back to spaces. It handles any valid percent-encoded sequence, making it useful for fixing malformed or double-encoded URLs.

Use Case: Debugging encoding issues in logs, cleaning up malformed URLs from user input, or reversing accidental double-encoding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Basics

What is URL encoding?

URL encoding (percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in URLs into a safe format using % followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the byte value.

Why use URL encoding?

URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Special characters like spaces, ampersands, and non-ASCII characters must be encoded to work correctly in URLs and query parameters.

What is the difference between URI and URL encoding?

URI encoding is a broader term that includes URL encoding. Both use percent-encoding. A URL is a specific type of URI, so the encoding rules are the same — encodeURIComponent handles both cases.

What characters are safe to use in URLs without encoding?

Unreserved characters that don't need encoding: A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ). Reserved characters like :/?#[]@!$&'()*+,;= have special meaning and must be encoded when used as literal values.

Encoding Methods

What encoding method does this tool use?

This tool uses encodeURIComponent for encoding and decodeURIComponent for decoding, which encodes all characters except A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ).

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURI only encodes characters not allowed in a complete URL (it preserves :/?#[]@!$&'()*+,;=). encodeURIComponent encodes those reserved characters too, making it suitable for encoding individual URL components like query parameter values.

Why are spaces sometimes encoded as + instead of %20?

In application/x-www-form-urlencoded format (form data), spaces are encoded as +. In standard percent-encoding for URLs, spaces are %20. This tool uses %20 since it follows the RFC 3986 standard for URI encoding.

What is double encoding?

Double encoding occurs when an already-encoded URL is encoded again. For example, %20 becomes %2520 (the % itself is encoded as %25). Use the decode button multiple times to reverse double encoding.

Usage

Can I decode a partially encoded URL?

Yes. This tool decodes any %XX sequences it finds, leaving unencoded characters unchanged. Partially encoded URLs like hello%20world will be fully decoded to hello world.

Does this tool encode the entire URL or just the query string?

It encodes the entire input string. If you only want to encode a query parameter value, paste just that value. For example, encode hello world to get hello%20world, then append it to your URL manually.

Is my data safe?

Yes. All encoding and decoding happens locally in your browser using JavaScript. Your data never leaves your device or gets sent to any server.