URL Encoder & Decoder Online — Free Tool
Use this free online URL encoder and decoder to instantly percent-encode special characters for safe use in web addresses, or decode encoded URLs back into readable plain text.
What is URL encoding?
URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) is a mechanism defined in RFC 3986 for representing characters that are not allowed or have special meaning inside a URL. Each unsafe character is replaced by a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits that represent the character’s byte value in UTF-8. For example, a space becomes %20, and an ampersand becomes %26.
The process is essential because URLs can only be transmitted over the internet using the ASCII character set. Characters outside that set — such as accented letters, Chinese or Arabic script, or symbols like #, ?, and = — must be encoded before they form a valid URL.
When do you need URL encoding?
- Query strings: Values passed after the
?in a URL often contain spaces or special characters that must be encoded to avoid misinterpretation by the server. - Form submissions: Browser forms automatically encode field values, but developers handling raw data or building URLs programmatically need to encode values manually.
- API requests: REST and other APIs require properly encoded parameters to distinguish data characters from URL delimiters.
- Debugging: Decoding a garbled or escaped URL helps you read the original intended address quickly.
- Email links: URLs embedded in emails often arrive with encoding artifacts that need decoding to verify the destination.
Encoding vs. decoding — what is the difference?
Encoding converts a plain string into a percent-encoded URL-safe format. Decoding reverses that process, turning a percent-encoded string back into its original human-readable form. Both operations are lossless and reversible — encoding then decoding always returns the original input unchanged.
Frequently asked questions
Is this URL encoder/decoder free to use?
Yes, it is completely free. There are no fees, no account registration, and no usage limits.
What is the difference between URL encoding and Base64 encoding?
URL encoding (percent-encoding) makes text safe for inclusion in a URL by replacing special characters with %XX sequences. Base64 encoding converts binary or text data into an ASCII string using a different alphabet, and is commonly used for email attachments or embedding data in HTML/CSS. They serve different purposes and are not interchangeable.
Does the tool store or log the text I enter?
No data is stored. The encoding and decoding happen in your browser or are processed on the server and discarded immediately — nothing is retained after your session.
Why does my encoded URL still contain some characters unencoded?
Certain characters — letters A–Z, digits 0–9, and the symbols – _ . ~ — are considered unreserved in RFC 3986 and are left as-is because they are already safe in any URL context. Only characters outside this set are percent-encoded.
Can I encode a full URL including the protocol and slashes?
You can paste a full URL into the encoder, but the tool will encode the entire string including colons and slashes, which may produce a result that is no longer a functional URL. For query string values only, paste just the value portion to get a correctly encoded parameter.