Developer tools
URL encoder & decoder
Percent-encode text for use in a URL, or decode it back. Everything runs in your browser - nothing is uploaded.
How it works
Paste text on the left and it is percent-encoded on the right, ready to drop into a URL. URLs may only contain a limited set of characters, so anything else - spaces, accents, slashes, ampersands, emoji - has to be written as a percent escape like %20 or %C3%A9. Switch to Decode and the tool turns those escapes back into readable text. Everything is UTF-8, so non-Latin scripts round-trip exactly.
There are two encoding modes. Component encoding (encodeURIComponent) escapes everything that is not safe inside a single value, including / ? : @ & = + and #, which is what you want for a query parameter or path segment. Full-URL encoding (encodeURI) leaves those structural characters intact so an entire address stays usable. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you paste is uploaded.
Example. In component mode, "name=Ada & Co" becomes name%3DAda%20%26%20Co, safe to use as a single query value. In full-URL mode the same text keeps its = and & because those have meaning in a URL, and only the spaces become %20.
FAQ
What is the difference between the two encode modes?
Component mode (encodeURIComponent) escapes the reserved characters / ? : @ & = + $ and #, so the result is safe to use as one piece of a URL such as a query value or a path segment. Full-URL mode (encodeURI) assumes you are encoding a whole address and leaves those reserved characters alone so the URL structure still works. Use component mode for parameters and full-URL mode for complete links.
Why does decoding sometimes fail?
Decoding fails when the input contains a percent sign that is not followed by two valid hex digits, which is not a legal escape sequence. The tool catches this and shows an error instead of producing garbage, so you can fix a stray % or a truncated %A before trying again.
Does it handle non-English characters?
Yes. Encoding uses UTF-8, so a character like e-acute becomes %C3%A9 and emoji become a short run of percent escapes. Decoding reverses it exactly, so any script - Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, emoji - survives a full round trip.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. Encoding and decoding use the browser built-in functions and run entirely on your machine. Nothing you paste is uploaded, logged, or stored.