URL Encoder / Decoder

Safely encode or decode URLs to ensure web compatibility. Use percentage encoding for special characters instantly and securely.

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding, also known as **percent-encoding**, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). Although it's known as URL encoding, it is used more generally within the main URI set, which includes both URL and URN.

Characters that are not allowed in a URL must be encoded. This includes spaces, non-ASCII characters, and characters with special meanings like `&`, `=`, and `?`.

For example, a space is encoded as `%20`. Our tool uses standard JavaScript `encodeURIComponent` and `decodeURIComponent` functions, ensuring maximum compatibility with modern web standards and browsers.

Secure & Private

All encoding and decoding processes are performed locally in your browser. No data is sent to our servers, ensuring your URLs remain private.

Standard Compliant

We follow RFC 3986 standards for URI encoding. This ensures that the encoded URLs will work correctly across all platforms and web servers.

Common Characters

Easily handle problematic characters like emoji, non-Latin scripts, and special symbols that often break legacy systems or email clients.

Looking for more tools?

Check out our other developer utilities like JSON Formatter, Base64 Converter, and UUID Generator — all free and 100% private.

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Free URL Encoder & Decoder Online

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) can only be sent over the internet using the US-ASCII character set. If your URL contains unsafe characters—like spaces, emojis, or foreign text—they must be properly converted using "Percent-Encoding".

Our Free URL Encoder and Decoder is a developer productivity utility that safely translates invalid characters into a web-safe format (like turning a space into %20). Built entirely with client-side JavaScript, it decodes massive query strings instantly and securely without API calls.

How to Encode and Decode URLs Instantly

  1. Select Your Mode: Toggle whether you want to Encode a raw string into a secure URL format, or Decode an existing URL back into readable ASCII characters.
  2. Paste the Target String: Drop your complex UTM tracking parameters, pagination states, or Base64 payloads into the text area.
  3. Instantly Copy: The JavaScript engines executes native encoding algorithms on your text in real-time, allowing you to instantly copy the parsed result to your clipboard.

Common URL Encoding Use Cases

Developers rely on URL encoding daily to ensure internet protocols function correctly without server crashes or 400 Bad Request errors.

  • Passing JSON State in Query Params: If your Next.js or React application needs to pass a small object to another page via the URL, the JSON array must be stringified and URL-encoded. You can build the object in our JSON Formatter before encoding it here.
  • Sanitizing Tracking Links: Digital marketers building affiliate links or UTM tracking codes must encode special characters so the browser doesn't accidentally treat them as structural command parameters.
  • Dealing With Emojis: A database ID might be a UUID, but if a user uploads a filename containing a smiley face, the server will crash trying to route the request unless the emoji is percent-encoded.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does URL encoding do?
URL encoding (or percent-encoding) converts reserved and untrusted characters into a safe format that can be transmitted over the internet by replacing them with a '%' followed by two hexadecimal digits.
When should I use encodeURIComponent vs encodeURI?
Use encodeURI for encoding a complete URL, as it won't encode characters like '?' or '&'. Use encodeURIComponent when encoding a specific query parameter value so it doesn't break the URL structure.
Why do spaces turn into %20?
Because spaces are not allowed in physical URLs. The hex code for a space character in ASCII is 20, so it gets encoded as %20.
How do I decode a broken URL string?
Simply paste your percent-encoded URL or query string into the decode box, and the tool will automatically convert it back into human-readable characters.
Is this tool safe for analyzing malicious links?
Yes, because the decoding happens entirely in your local browser sandbox without actually visiting the target link.