URL Encoder & Decoder - Free Online Tool

How the URL Encoder Works

1. 01Paste or type the text you want to encode or decode
2. 02Choose Encode to convert special characters to URL-safe format, or Decode to convert back
3. 03The result updates instantly
4. 04Copy the encoded or decoded URL to your clipboard

Why URL Encoding Matters

URL encoding (percent-encoding) replaces unsafe characters with a % followed by their hex code. Spaces become %20, ampersands become %26, and so on. This is necessary because URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. When building URLs with query parameters, always encode user input to prevent broken links and security vulnerabilities like injection attacks.

When to Use URL Encoding

Use URL encoding whenever you construct URLs with user input, share URLs containing special characters or non-Latin scripts, build API requests with dynamic query parameters, create mailto: links with pre-filled subject lines or body text, or debug encoded URLs received from external systems.

Common Use Cases

• ·Encode query parameter values containing special characters for API requests → Base64 Encoder & Decoder
• ·Decode URL-encoded strings in API responses or server logs for debugging
• ·Encode non-Latin characters (accented letters, CJK) for use in URLs
• ·Create properly encoded mailto: links with pre-filled subjects and body text
• ·Debug double-encoded URLs where %20 has become %2520 → JSON Formatter & Validator

Expert Tips

• ✻Encode only the values in query parameters, not the entire URL - encoding the ? and & delimiters would break the URL structure
• ✻Watch for double-encoding: if you see %2520 instead of %20, your URL was encoded twice - decode once to fix it
• ✻Use encodeURIComponent() (not encodeURI()) when encoding individual parameter values in JavaScript - encodeURI preserves characters like & that have special meaning in URLs

Frequently Asked Questions