How to use the URL Encode / Decode tool
- Paste your URL or text.
- Choose “Component” for a single query value or “Full URL” for a complete address.
- Click “Encode” or “Decode” and copy the result.
What is URL encoding?
URLs may contain only a limited set of characters. Everything else, such as spaces, accented letters and symbols like & or ?, must be written as a percent sign followed by a hexadecimal code. A space becomes %20, an @ becomes %40, and the letter é becomes %C3%A9 (its two UTF-8 bytes).
Component or full URL?
- Component encodes everything except letters, digits and - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ). Use it for a single query value, for example a search term that contains & or =.
- Full URL keeps characters that structure a URL, such as : / ? # and &, and encodes only the rest. Use it to clean up a complete link that contains spaces.
When decoding in component mode, plus signs are treated as spaces, which matches how HTML forms submit data.
Privacy
Everything you type stays in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server or stored.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my link show %20?
%20 is an encoded space. Browsers usually display it as a space, but it is stored encoded.
What does “invalid % sequence” mean?
A percent sign must be followed by two hexadecimal digits. A stray % in text cannot be decoded.
Is URL encoding the same as Base64?
No. URL encoding only escapes unsafe characters; Base64 converts all data into a different alphabet.
Does it handle non-English characters?
Yes. Characters are encoded as UTF-8, the standard for URLs.