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Encoded Character Reference
Space
!
!21
#
%23
$
%24
&
%26
'
%27
(
%28
)
%29
*
%2A
+
%2B
,
%2C
/
%2F
:
%3A
;
%3B
=
%3D
?
%3F
@
%40
[
%5B
]
%5D
Common Examples
Original:
Hello World!
Encoded:
Hello%20World%21
Original:
john@example.com
Encoded:
john%40example.com
Original:
price=$99.99
Encoded:
price%3D%2499.99
Original:
search?query=coffee
Encoded:
search%3Fquery%3Dcoffee
Why URL Encoding?
URLs can only contain a limited set of characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _, ., ~). Special characters must be percent-encoded.
Encoding ensures browsers correctly transmit special characters in query strings, path segments, and fragments.
Used in APIs, form submissions, search parameters, and any system exchanging data via URLs.
100% Client-Side
Your URLs and text never leave your browser. All encoding and decoding happens locally on your device.
Free URL Encoder and Decoder — Safely Encode and Decode URLs for Web Development
URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) can only contain a limited set of characters — the letters A-Z, a-z, numbers 0-9, and a handful of special symbols (-, _, ., ~). Every other character, including spaces, punctuation, international characters, and symbols like @, #, $, and &, must be encoded before they can appear in a URL. Our free URL encoder and decoder handles this conversion instantly, producing RFC 3986-compliant encoded strings that work correctly across all browsers, servers, and web applications.
URL encoding — also called percent-encoding — replaces each unsafe character with % followed by its two-digit hexadecimal ASCII value. A space becomes %20, an ampersand (&) becomes %26, and a question mark (?) becomes %3F. This encoding ensures that URLs containing special characters are transmitted correctly without breaking URL parsing, query string parsing, or fragment identification.
URL Encoding for Web Developers and API Integration
Whether you're building REST API endpoints, constructing query strings for search functionality, handling form submissions, or processing user input that will appear in URLs, correct encoding is critical. Improperly encoded URLs can break routing, cause parsing errors, or introduce security vulnerabilities like injection attacks. Our tool handles the edge cases that simple string replacements miss, correctly encoding full UTF-8 character sets including international characters and symbols.
The tool is particularly useful when debugging API issues: if an endpoint is returning errors, the problem is often improperly encoded special characters in query parameters. Paste your URL, encode it, and compare the result to find encoding mismatches that could be causing issues.
Decoding Percent-Encoded URLs
Our URL decoder reverses the encoding process, converting percent-encoded strings back to their original human-readable form. This is essential for inspecting URLs copied from browser address bars, debugging query parameters, analyzing competitor URLs for SEO research, or understanding how data is being transmitted through web applications.
Paste any encoded URL to decode it and see exactly what information it contains. Query strings often embed search terms, filter parameters, session tokens, and other data in encoded form — decoding reveals this information transparently for analysis or debugging.
Common URL Encoding Characters Reference
Understanding which characters need encoding helps you work more effectively with URLs. Spaces are always encoded as %20 (never as plus signs, which have a different meaning in application/x-www-form-urlencoded encoding). Ampersands (&) that separate query parameters must not be encoded within parameter values. Unicode characters beyond ASCII require multi-byte encoding in UTF-8 before percent-encoding.
Our tool's reference panel shows the most commonly encoded characters and their encoded equivalents. Keep this as a quick reference when building URLs manually or debugging encoding issues in your applications.
URL Encoding for SEO and Digital Marketing
SEO professionals often need to analyze URLs from competitors, search results, and analytics tools. Encoded URLs may hide keyword terms embedded in query parameters — decoding reveals these hidden signals. Understanding URL structure and encoding helps with technical SEO audits, URL parameter analysis, and diagnosing crawl issues caused by duplicate content from improperly encoded URLs.
The tool also helps content strategists verify that URLs are properly formatted for sharing. When sharing links on social media, messaging apps, or email, correctly encoded URLs ensure the link arrives intact and functional regardless of the platform's URL parsing.
Frequently Asked Questions About URL Encoding
Q: What's the difference between URL encoding and HTML encoding?
A: URL encoding (percent-encoding) converts characters for safe transmission in URLs. HTML encoding converts characters for safe display in HTML documents. For example, the less-than sign (<) is encoded as %3C in URLs but < in HTML. Our tool handles URL encoding specifically.
Q: When should I encode spaces as %20 versus +?
A: In URLs (the browser address bar, link hrefs, query strings), always use %20 for spaces. The plus sign (+) is only valid in application/x-www-form-urlencoded form data, like HTML form submissions, not in URLs themselves.
Q: Are encoded URLs case-sensitive?
A: Yes. %3A (encoded colon) and %3a (also encoded colon) are technically equivalent in modern systems, but the letters within percent-encoded sequences like %AB are case-sensitive. Path segments like /MyPage/ and /mypage/ are completely different URLs.