Encode special characters for URLs or decode URL-encoded strings
URL encoding (also known as percent-encoding) is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). Certain characters in a URL have special meanings and must be encoded to be used literally. For example, spaces must be encoded as %20, and the plus sign (+) is encoded as %2B.
Our URL Encoder/Decoder tool helps you properly encode special characters for use in URLs or decode encoded URLs back to their original form. We support both standard encoding (encodeURI) and full encoding (encodeURIComponent) for different use cases.
Use URL encoding when including special characters in URL parameters, query strings, or path segments. Common cases include spaces, ampersands (&), question marks (?), and equals signs (=).
encodeURI encodes a complete URL, preserving characters like :, /, ?, and #. encodeURIComponent encodes a component of a URL (like a parameter value) and encodes all special characters except letters, digits, -, ., _, and ~.
Spaces are not allowed in URLs, so they're encoded as %20. Other common encodings include %2B for plus signs, %3D for equals signs, and %26 for ampersands.