URL Encode / Decode
Escape and unescape text for safe use in URLs.
Files are processed in memory and never stored.
Percent-encode text so it can travel safely in a URL, or decode an encoded URL back to readable text. Useful any time you build query strings, debug a redirect, or need to see what a long encoded link actually contains.
How to use it
- Open the URL Encode/Decode tool.
- Paste your text or encoded URL.
- Choose Encode or Decode.
- Copy the result.
Why URLs need encoding
URLs may only contain a limited set of characters. Spaces, ampersands, question marks, slashes and non-ASCII text all have special meaning or aren't allowed, so they must be replaced with percent-escapes — a space becomes %20, an ampersand becomes %26, and so on. Without this, a value containing an '&' would prematurely end one query parameter and start another, silently corrupting the request.
Encoding a value vs. a whole URL
There's an important distinction: you encode a query-parameter value (so its special characters are escaped), but you don't blanket-encode a complete URL (or you'd destroy the :// and the ? separators). This tool encodes the text you give it as a component, which is what you want when assembling a parameter. Decoding reverses any percent-escapes so you can read an encoded link.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference from Base64?
URL encoding only escapes unsafe characters with percent-codes; Base64 re-encodes everything. They solve different problems.
Why is a space sometimes + and sometimes %20?
In query strings a space can be '+'; elsewhere it's %20. The decoder here accepts both.
Is my input sent anywhere?
No — it's processed entirely in your browser.
Should I encode the whole URL?
No. Encode individual parameter values, not the scheme and separators of a full URL.
Does it handle Unicode?
Yes — non-ASCII characters are percent-encoded as UTF-8.
Is it free?
Yes — free and unlimited.