URL Encoder / Decoder
URLs may only contain a limited set of characters. Spaces, ampersands, question marks, non-English letters and emoji must be percent-encoded — written as % followed by the hexadecimal value of each UTF-8 byte — before they can appear in a URL or query string.
Use this tool to build query strings safely, read encoded URLs from logs and analytics tools, or debug redirect and callback URLs.
How to use
- Choose Encode or Decode.
- Paste your text or URL into the input panel.
- Copy the result, or use ⇄ Swap to move the output back to the input and chain operations.
Common encodings
space | %20 |
& | %26 |
= | %3D |
? | %3F |
/ | %2F |
# | %23 |
é | %C3%A9 |
Encoding a whole URL vs a single value
Encode individual query-parameter values, not the entire URL. Encoding a full URL also escapes the :, / and ? characters that give the URL its structure. For example, only the value in ?q=… should be encoded: https://example.com/search?q=caf%C3%A9%20%26%20bar.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is a space sometimes + instead of %20?
- HTML form submissions (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) encode spaces as +. Elsewhere in URLs, %20 is the standard encoding.
- Why does decoding fail?
- Decoding fails when a % is not followed by two valid hex digits, or when the bytes do not form valid UTF-8.
Privacy
This tool runs entirely in your browser. The data you paste or open is processed locally and is never uploaded to or stored on our servers.