URL Encoder & Decoder

What is URL encoding?

URL encoding, also called percent encoding, converts characters into a form that can be safely used inside parts of a URL. Encoded characters are represented by a % followed by hexadecimal values.

For example:

• hello world becomes hello%20world
• coffee & tea becomes coffee%20%26%20tea
• email@example.com becomes email%40example.com

Some characters such as /, ?, &, and = already have special roles in a URL. They may need encoding when they are part of a value rather than part of the URL structure.

URL encoding is commonly used for search terms, query parameters, redirect destinations, callback URLs, and API requests. If you want to inspect the protocol, hostname, path, query parameters, and fragment of a URL, use the URL Parser.

How to encode or decode a URL

1. Enter your text Paste a URL, query parameter, text value, or percent-encoded string into the input area.
2. Choose Encode or Decode Use Encode to convert special characters into percent-encoded values. Use Decode to turn encoded values back into readable text.
3. Check the result Review the output before using it in a URL, API request, redirect, or application.
4. Copy the output Copy the result to your clipboard, or use it as the next input if you want to reverse the conversion.

URL encoding examples

These examples show what happens when spaces and characters with special URL meanings are used as data:

Encode a value or a full URL?

You usually do not need to encode every character in a complete URL. In many cases, only the dynamic value inside a query parameter needs encoding.

Consider this URL:

https://example.com/search?q=coffee & tea

The intended search value is coffee & tea. However, & already has a special role in a query string because it separates parameters.

Encode the value:

coffee%20%26%20tea

Then place it back into the URL:

https://example.com/search?q=coffee%20%26%20tea

If you instead encode the complete URL as a single component, you may get:

https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcoffee%20%26%20tea

That value can be useful when an entire URL needs to be stored inside another parameter, but it is not a directly navigable replacement for the original URL.

Common URL-encoded characters

These are some percent-encoded values you will often see while working with URLs:

Whether a character needs encoding depends on where it appears. A slash may be intentional in a URL path, for example, but should usually be encoded when it belongs inside a single parameter value.

encodeURI() vs encodeURIComponent()

JavaScript provides two commonly used functions for encoding URLs. The important difference is whether you are encoding a URL structure or one value inside it.

encodeURI()

encodeURI() is useful when you already have a mostly complete URL and want to encode characters such as spaces without escaping its main structural separators.

encodeURI("https://example.com/search?q=hello world");
// "https://example.com/search?q=hello%20world"

Characters such as /, :, ?, &, and = remain available to define the URL structure.

encodeURIComponent()

encodeURIComponent() is usually the better choice for an individual query parameter value.

encodeURIComponent("coffee & tea");
// "coffee%20%26%20tea"

Here the ampersand is encoded because it belongs to the value instead of acting as a separator between query parameters.

Common URL encoding mistakes

• Encoding more than necessary: Encoding a complete URL with a component encoder also converts characters such as /, ?, and =. Encode the dynamic value when the surrounding URL structure needs to remain readable.
• Encoding the same value twice: hello world becomes hello%20world. If that result is encoded again, it becomes hello%2520world because the existing % is encoded as %25.
• Confusing + with %20: HTML form encoding commonly uses + for spaces in query values, while percent encoding represents a space as %20. A literal plus sign can also appear as %2B, so the correct interpretation depends on the context.
• Assuming a decoded link is safe: Decoding a URL only makes its contents easier to read. Check unfamiliar domains and destinations before opening them.

When URL encoding is useful (Use cases)

URL encoding is useful whenever text or another URL needs to be placed safely inside part of a web address.

• Search queries: Encode spaces and special characters entered into a search field.
• API requests: Prepare filter values, search terms, and other query parameters before adding them to a request URL.
• Redirect URLs: Encode a destination URL when it needs to be passed as the value of a parameter such as redirect_uri or return_to.
• Debugging: Decode URLs from logs or error messages so their query values are easier to inspect.
• Campaign links: Encode UTM campaign names and other tracking values that contain spaces or special characters.
• OAuth callbacks: Encode redirect and callback values without allowing their own query characters to change the surrounding authorization URL.
• Manual inspection: Decode values such as %20, %2F, %3F, and %26 when troubleshooting a URL.

Browser-based processing

Your text is encoded and decoded directly in your browser. TryFormatter does not need to upload the input to its server to perform this conversion.