Encode
URL Encoder / Decoder
Safely encode URL components or decode percent-encoded text without sending it anywhere.
Common questions
What is the difference between URI and component encoding?
URI encoding encodes all special characters except A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _, ., ~ and /. Component encoding additionally encodes /, ?, &, = and #, which are structural in URIs. Use component mode for individual query-string values, URI mode for full URLs.
Why do spaces become %20?
URLs cannot contain literal spaces. RFC 3986 defines percent-encoding, where each unsafe byte is replaced by % followed by two hex digits. A space is byte 0x20, hence %20. Modern browsers also encode [ ] ^ ` and other unreserved characters.
Can I decode encoded URLs back to readable text?
Yes. Paste the percent-encoded text and click Decode. Each %XX sequence is converted back to the original byte, and the UTF-8 bytes are reassembled into characters.