URL Encode / Decode

URL Encode / Decode

The URL encode / decode tool percent-encodes text so it is safe to place in a URL, and decodes percent-encoded strings back to their readable form. Characters like spaces, ampersands, and Unicode symbols must be escaped before they go into a query string or path, or they will break the request. This tool takes the guesswork out of building and reading URLs by hand.

How it works

Encoding and decoding run locally in your browser with JavaScript, using the same percent-encoding rules as encodeURIComponent. Paste a value to encode it for safe transport, or paste an encoded string like %20%26%3D to see the original characters. Everything happens client-side, so there is no upload and no delay.

Practical use cases

• Encode query-string parameters before appending them to a URL.
• Decode a captured URL from logs or the address bar to read it clearly.
• Escape redirect targets and search terms safely.
• Debug why a request is failing due to unescaped characters.

To break a URL into its parts, use the URL Parser. For binary-safe encoding, see Base64 Encode / Decode, and when escaping content for markup the HTML Entity Encoder is the right companion.

Private by design

Your URLs and parameters are processed in-browser and never uploaded. The tool is free, needs no account, and works on all modern browsers including mobile, so you can encode and decode URLs without sending potentially sensitive links to a remote server.