URL Encoder/Decoder

How to Use the URL Encoder/Decoder

This free online URL encoder and decoder converts special characters to their percent-encoded equivalents and back, ensuring your URLs are safe for transmission across the web. Whether you're building query strings, debugging API redirect chains, or working with OAuth callback URLs, this tool handles encoding and decoding instantly in your browser.

Step-by-Step

1. **Paste your URL or text** into the input field.

Select Encode or Decode — Encode converts characters like spaces, ampersands, and Unicode into percent-encoded format (%20, %26, etc.). Decode reverses this process.

Copy the result — Click the Copy button to grab the encoded or decoded output.

Features

Full URL encoding — Encodes all special characters including spaces, &, =, ?, #, and Unicode characters.

Component-level encoding — Uses encodeURIComponent for query parameters and encodeURI for full URLs.

Instant decode — Converts percent-encoded strings back to readable text immediately.

Error handling — Malformed encoded strings are flagged with clear messages.

One-click copy — Copy the result to your clipboard instantly.

100% client-side — Uses native JavaScript encoding functions. No server calls, no data collection.

Common Use Cases

Query Parameter Encoding — When building URLs with user-generated content, special characters like &, =, and spaces must be encoded to avoid breaking the URL structure.

OAuth and Redirect URLs — OAuth flows require callback URLs to be properly percent-encoded. Use this tool to encode redirect_uri values before passing them to authorization endpoints.

API Debugging — When API responses contain encoded URLs, paste them here to decode and inspect the actual target URL, query parameters, and fragment identifiers.

Internationalized URLs — URLs containing non-ASCII characters (like Chinese, Arabic, or emoji) need encoding. This tool handles the full Unicode range via UTF-8 percent-encoding.

Deep Link Construction — Mobile app deep links and universal links often require double-encoding. Encode your parameters before embedding them in the outer URL.

Tips for Power Users

- Remember the difference: encodeURI preserves characters like /, ?, and # that are part of URL structure, while encodeURIComponent encodes everything — use the latter for query parameter values.

- Double-encoded URLs (%2520 instead of %20) are a common bug. If your decoded output still has percent signs, decode again.

- Spaces can be encoded as %20 or + depending on context. This tool uses %20 (standard), but form submissions use +.

- Combine with the Base64 Encoder when working with tokens that appear in URLs.

Why Use This Tool?

All encoding and decoding happens locally in your browser using native JavaScript functions — encodeURIComponent, decodeURIComponent, encodeURI, and decodeURI. No data is transmitted to any server, making it safe for encoding URLs that contain sensitive parameters like API keys, tokens, or user data. It's fast, private, and always available — even offline once the page has loaded.