Paste your text
Paste plain text, a full URL, or an encoded string. Query parameters, spaces, symbols, and Unicode are all supported.
URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode or decode URLs instantly in your browser. Convert text into URL-safe format or decode percent-encoded strings for readability. Useful for query parameters, API requests, and debugging links.
Text is processed entirely in your browser and is never uploaded to any server.
How it works
Encode or decode a URL instantly
Paste your text and the tool automatically detects whether to encode or decode. Everything runs locally in your browser for fast, private processing.
Auto-detect and process
The tool detects whether your input is encoded or not and applies the correct transformation automatically. You can still switch modes if needed.
Copy the result
Copy the output for use in URLs, query parameters, API requests, logs, or debugging.
Why use this tool
When to Use URL Encoding
URL encoding makes text safe to include inside links and query strings by converting spaces and special characters into percent-encoded sequences. Decoding is useful when you want to read or debug encoded URLs and API parameters.
Common use cases:
Encode query parameter values
Safely encode user input like names, emails, or search terms before placing them into a URL.
Decode copied URLs for readability
Turn percent-encoded strings back into readable text when reviewing logs, tickets, or analytics data.
Debug API requests
Quickly inspect and fix encoded query strings or headers when troubleshooting requests.
Handle spaces and special characters
Encode characters like &, =, ?, and Unicode symbols to avoid broken links or parsing issues.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
URL decoding fails when the input contains invalid percent-encoded sequences, such as a % not followed by two valid hexadecimal characters. Even a single malformed segment can prevent the entire string from decoding correctly.
You should encode text when adding dynamic values to query parameters, form submissions, or API requests. Encoding ensures spaces and special characters don’t break the URL structure.
Spaces, symbols, and reserved characters like ?, &, =, /, and # should be encoded. These characters have special meaning in URLs and can cause parsing issues if left unencoded.
In query strings, spaces are often represented as + instead of %20. This is standard for form-encoded data, which is why decoding may treat + as a space depending on context.
Encoding a full URL preserves structural characters like / and :, while encoding a query parameter encodes nearly all special characters. Using the wrong method can break links or APIs.
Yes. Some URLs are encoded more than once, which requires decoding multiple times to fully restore the original text. If the result still looks encoded after one pass, it may need another.
Yes. This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your data is never uploaded or sent to a server, making it safe for handling sensitive or private text.
URL encoding makes text safe for use in URLs by escaping specific characters. Base64 converts data into a different encoded format, typically used for binary data or large payloads, not URLs.