URL Encoder / Decoder
URLs can only safely contain a limited set of characters — spaces, symbols, and non-ASCII characters need to be percent-encoded before they'll work reliably in a link. Our URL Encoder/Decoder converts text to properly encoded URL format, or decodes an encoded URL back into readable text, instantly in both directions. Paste your input, choose encode or decode, and copy the result.
Why Use Our URL Encoder/Decoder?
- Works both directionsencode plain text into a safe URL format or decode an encoded URL back to readable text.
- Instant conversionno waiting, no manual character-by-character replacement.
- 100% free & unlimitedconvert as many URLs as you need, no signup, no daily cap.
- Handles special characters correctlyspaces, symbols, and non-ASCII text all encode properly.
- Privacy-friendlyyour data is processed in your browser session and never stored on our servers.
Who Uses a URL Encoder/Decoder?
Anyone building or troubleshooting links that contain special characters needs a reliable way to encode or decode them correctly.
Developers : building query strings with special characters or spaces
Marketers : encoding campaign parameters that contain spaces or symbols
SEOs : decoding messy URLs found in server logs or analytics reports
Support teams : decoding URLs submitted by customers to understand what they're seeing
Students : learning how percent-encoding works in web addresses
How URL Encoding Helps Your Workflow
Improperly encoded URLs can break links entirely or cause parameters to be read incorrectly, so getting this right matters more than it might seem.
- Prevent Broken Links
- A URL with an unencoded space or special character can break entirely or get truncated by the browser. Encoding these characters properly ensures the link works exactly as intended everywhere it's shared.
- Build Clean Campaign URLs
- If you're adding tracking parameters with our UTM Builder, make sure any special characters in campaign names are properly encoded here first to avoid a malformed tracking link.
- Decode Messy URLs From Logs or Reports
- URLs pulled from server logs or analytics tools often show up percent-encoded and hard to read. Decode them here to see the actual readable version of what a visitor typed or clicked.
- Inspect the Full URL Structure
- Once a URL is properly encoded or decoded, use our URL Parser to break it down into protocol, domain, path, and query parameters for a closer look.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What characters actually need to be encoded in a URL?
Spaces, and symbols like &, ?,
#, %, +, and non-ASCII characters
(like accented letters or non-Latin scripts) all need to be
percent-encoded to be interpreted correctly by browsers and servers.
2. What does percent-encoding actually look like?
Each unsafe character is replaced with a % followed by its
hexadecimal code — for example, a space becomes %20 and an
ampersand becomes %26. This is what allows special characters
to safely travel inside a URL.
3. Why would I need to decode a URL instead of encode one?
If you're reading a URL from server logs, a browser address bar, or an API response, it's often already percent-encoded and hard to read. Decoding it converts it back to plain, readable text.
4. Is this the same as Base64 encoding?
No, they're different encoding methods for different purposes. URL encoding (percent-encoding) makes text safe to include inside a URL. Our separate Base64 Encode/Decode tool handles a different encoding format used for representing binary data as text.
5. Does this tool store the URLs or text I convert?
No. Your input and output are processed in your browser session and aren't saved or logged on our servers.