RSRobince Studio

URL Encode & Decode

Convert special characters to %XX form for safe use in URLs, or turn encoded strings back into readable text.

Runs in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.

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How to use URL Encode & Decode

  1. Choose Encode or Decode.
  2. Paste your text or URL.
  3. Tick “full URL” if you want to keep characters like : / ? & =.
  4. Copy the result.

Why URLs need encoding

A URL is a strict format. Characters such as space, #, ?, & and = have special jobs, and many characters are not allowed at all. If a search term like “fish & chips” goes into a link unencoded, the & is read as the start of a new parameter and the link breaks. Encoding turns the dangerous characters into safe %XX sequences.

Frequently encoded characters

  • Space → %20
  • & → %26
  • = → %3D
  • ? → %3F
  • # → %23
  • / → %2F
  • é → %C3%A9 (two UTF-8 bytes)

Common mistakes

Encoding an already-encoded string turns %20 into %2520 (double encoding). Decode once to check what you have. Also avoid encoding a complete URL in component mode: the colons and slashes would be escaped and the link would stop working. Use full-URL mode for that.

Why use this url encode & decode tool

  • Two modes. Component mode for values, full-URL mode for whole addresses.
  • Unicode support. Non-English characters are encoded as UTF-8 bytes.
  • Error detection. Warns about broken % sequences.

Frequently asked questions

What is URL encoding?

URLs may only contain a limited set of characters. Everything else, such as spaces or accents, is replaced by a percent sign and two hex digits, so a space becomes %20.

Component or full URL?

Use component mode (encodeURIComponent) for a single value such as a search term. Use full-URL mode (encodeURI) for a whole address where slashes and question marks must stay intact.

Why does a space sometimes become +?

HTML form submissions encode spaces as +. Percent-encoding uses %20. Both are valid in query strings, but + is not valid in the path.

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