URL Encoder/Decoder
Encode, Decode, and Parse URLs Instantly

URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) is the process of converting special characters in a URL into a format that can be safely transmitted over the internet. Characters like spaces, &, =, and non-ASCII characters are replaced with a percent sign followed by their hexadecimal value (e.g., space becomes %20).

Reserved characters like & = ? # / : @ need encoding. Special characters like spaces, quotes, brackets, and non-ASCII characters (Unicode) must also be encoded. Safe characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, - _ . ~) don't need encoding.

The + character for spaces comes from the application/x-www-form-urlencoded format used in HTML form submissions. In URLs, spaces should be encoded as %20. Both are valid in query strings, but %20 is more universally compatible.

Use encodeURI when encoding a complete URL - it preserves characters that have special meaning in URLs (like :, /, ?, &). Use encodeURIComponent when encoding a part of a URL, like a query parameter value - it encodes everything including special URL characters.

Yes. URL encoding handles all Unicode characters by converting them to UTF-8 bytes and encoding each byte as %XX. For example, the emoji 😀 becomes %F0%9F%98%80, and Chinese characters are similarly encoded as multiple percent-encoded bytes.

Forward slashes (/) have special meaning in URLs as path separators. When you need a literal slash in a query parameter value or other component (not as a path separator), it must be encoded as %2F to distinguish it from path structure.

Double encoding occurs when an already-encoded URL is encoded again. For example, a space (%20) becomes %2520 because the % sign itself gets encoded. This tool will detect potential double encoding and warn you.

Absolutely. All encoding and decoding happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. No data is ever sent to our servers or any third party. You can even use this tool offline once the page is loaded.

Use URL encoding for query parameters and URL components where human readability matters. Use Base64 for binary data, tokens, or when you need a fixed-size encoding that's compact and doesn't require escaping special URL characters.

Yes! You can use query parameters: ?url=your-text to prefill the input, &mode=decode to set decode mode, and &type=component to use encodeURIComponent mode.