Privacy Blog

URL Encoder / Decoder

Encode or decode URL strings instantly. Safely handle special characters for use in web addresses, query parameters, or API calls. Everything happens in your browser — no data leaves your device.

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding (also called percent‑encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in a URL into a safe format. For example, a space becomes %20, and a question mark becomes %3F. This ensures that the URL is correctly interpreted by web servers and browsers.

Our tool lets you switch between the original text and its encoded form with a single click. No need to remember complex character codes — just paste and convert.

How to Use the URL Encoder / Decoder

  1. Enter your text or URL – Paste the string you want to encode or decode into the input box.
  2. Select the operation – Choose URL Encode to convert special characters into percent‑encoded format, or URL Decode to revert an encoded string back to plain text.
  3. Click the button – The result appears immediately in the output area.
  4. Copy or download – Use the copy button to grab the result or save it as a .txt file.

Pro Tip: URL encoding is essential when you pass query parameters that contain spaces, ampersands, or other reserved characters. Always encode dynamic values before appending them to a URL.

Common URL Encoded Characters

CharacterEncoded Value
Space%20
! (Exclamation)%21
" (Double quote)%22
# (Hash)%23
$ (Dollar)%24
& (Ampersand)%26
' (Single quote)%27
( (Left parenthesis)%28
) (Right parenthesis)%29
+ (Plus)%2B
, (Comma)%2C
/ (Slash)%2F
: (Colon)%3A
= (Equals)%3D
? (Question mark)%3F
@ (At sign)%40

Real‑World Use Cases

  • Web development: Safely include user‑generated content in query strings or URL paths.
  • API testing: Encode parameters when sending HTTP requests to avoid broken URLs.
  • Email campaigns: Encode tracking parameters in links to ensure they are not corrupted by email clients.
  • Debugging: Decode encoded URLs to understand what data is being passed between pages.
  • Bookmarklets: Encode JavaScript code to create bookmarklets that work correctly.

From the Textify Team

We built this URL encoder/decoder to handle one of those small but frequent tasks that every developer and digital marketer faces. It's simple, private, and always available — no ads, no tracking. Just a clean tool that does the job.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, they are different. URL encoding escapes characters for safe use in URLs (e.g., space → %20). HTML encoding escapes characters for safe display in HTML (e.g., < → &lt;). Use our general Text Encoder / Decoder for HTML entities.
Yes. URL encoding converts all non‑ASCII characters into UTF‑8 byte sequences prefixed with %. For example, "café" becomes "caf%C3%A9".
You can encode any string. If you paste a full URL, all special characters will be encoded, which may break the URL if it already contains reserved characters like slashes. Use this tool primarily for individual parameter values or path segments.
Absolutely. All processing happens locally in your browser. Your text is never uploaded to any server.
Yes, once the page is loaded, you can disconnect from the internet and still encode or decode URLs. The functionality is entirely client‑side.
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