URL Encoder & Decoder

Free online URL encoder and decoder. Encode URLs with encodeURI or encodeURIComponent. Supports special characters, Chinese, and Unicode. 100% browser-based, no data upload.

Private Real-time

Encoding Method:

encodeURI For complete URLs encodeURIComponent For URL parameters

Batch Mode (multi-line)

Save encoding history

URL or Text 0 characters

Encoded URL 0 characters

Ctrl+E Encode Ctrl+D Decode Ctrl+Shift+C Copy Result

How to Use URL Encoder & Decoder

Enter Your URL or Text

Paste or type the URL or text you want to encode or decode into the input box.

Choose Encoding Method

Select encodeURI for complete URLs or encodeURIComponent for URL parameters.

View Instant Results

The encoded or decoded result appears in real-time as you type.

Copy the Result

Click the copy button to copy the result to your clipboard.

encodeURI vs encodeURIComponent

encodeURI

Use for encoding a complete URL.

Preserves: :// ? & = #

Input: https://example.com/path with spaces Output: https://example.com/path%20with%20spaces

encodeURIComponent

Use for encoding URL parameters or path segments.

Encodes: :// ? & = # too

Input: param=value&name=test Output: param%3Dvalue%26name%3Dtest

Tips for Best Results

Use encodeURIComponent for individual URL parameters
Use encodeURI for complete URLs that need safe transmission
Privacy guaranteed - All processing happens in your browser
Unicode support - Works with Chinese, Japanese, emoji, and all Unicode characters

URL Encoding Reference Table

Reserved Characters

These characters have special meaning in URLs and may need encoding in certain contexts:

Character	Encoded	Description
!	%21	Exclamation mark
#	%23	Hash / Fragment
$	%24	Dollar sign
&	%26	Ampersand
'	%27	Single quote
( )	%28 %29	Parentheses
*	%2A	Asterisk
+	%2B	Plus sign
,	%2C	Comma
/	%2F	Forward slash
:	%3A	Colon
;	%3B	Semicolon
=	%3D	Equals sign
?	%3F	Question mark
@	%40	At sign
[ ]	%5B %5D	Square brackets

Unsafe Characters

These characters should always be encoded in URLs:

Character	Encoded	Description
Space	%20 or +	Space
"	%22	Double quote
< >	%3C %3E	Angle brackets
{ }	%7B %7D	Curly braces
\|	%7C	Vertical bar
\	%5C	Backslash
^	%5E	Caret
`	%60	Backtick

Safe Characters (Never Encoded)

These characters are always safe and never encoded:

A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ~

Frequently Asked Questions

URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for representing characters in a URL using only the ASCII character set. Characters that are not allowed in URLs (like spaces, Chinese characters, or special symbols) are converted to a % followed by two hexadecimal digits.

encodeURI encodes a complete URL but preserves URL structure characters like ://, ?, &, =, and #. Use it for encoding full URLs.

encodeURIComponent encodes ALL special characters including URL structure characters. Use it for encoding URL parameters or path segments.

Both represent a space, but in different contexts:

%20 is the standard URL-encoded representation (used in URL paths)
+ is used in query strings (application/x-www-form-urlencoded format)

Our tool uses %20 for consistency with encodeURI/encodeURIComponent.

URL encoding uses UTF-8 by default. Chinese characters are converted to their UTF-8 byte representation, then each byte is encoded as %XX. For example:

"中" becomes %E4%B8%AD
"文" becomes %E6%96%87
"🎉" becomes %F0%9F%8E%89

Our tool handles all Unicode characters automatically.

Absolutely! All encoding/decoding happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your URLs are never sent to any server. You can even use this tool offline once the page is loaded.

This usually happens when:

The original encoding used a different character set (not UTF-8)
The URL was double-encoded (try decoding multiple times)
The input wasn't properly encoded in the first place

Yes! Choose the right method:

Use encodeURI for complete URLs (preserves ://, ?, &, etc.)
Use encodeURIComponent for URL parameters only

How URL Encoding Works

URL encoding converts characters into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet. Since URLs can only contain ASCII characters, any character outside this set must be encoded.

The Encoding Process

Character → UTF-8 Bytes - The character is converted to its UTF-8 byte representation
Bytes → Hexadecimal - Each byte is converted to a two-digit hexadecimal number
Hex → Percent-Encoded - A % prefix is added to each hex number

Example: Encoding "Hello World"

Original: Hello World

→

Space → %20: Hello%20World

Example: Encoding Chinese Characters

Character	UTF-8 Bytes	Encoded
中	E4 B8 AD	%E4%B8%AD
文	E6 96 87	%E6%96%87
🎉	F0 9F 8E 89	%F0%9F%8E%89

Why URL Encoding is Necessary

URL Specification - URLs are defined in RFC 3986 to use ASCII only
Reserved Characters - Characters like ?, &, = have special meaning in URLs
Unsafe Characters - Some characters may be misinterpreted or corrupted during transmission
Internationalization - Non-English characters need encoding for safe transmission

URL Encoding in Different Languages

JavaScript

encodeURI("https://example.com/path with spaces");
// "https://example.com/path%20with%20spaces"

encodeURIComponent("param=value&name=test");
// "param%3Dvalue%26name%3Dtest"

Python

from urllib.parse import quote, quote_plus

quote("path with spaces")  # "path%20with%20spaces"
quote_plus("query value")  # "query+value"

PHP

urlencode("value with spaces");  // "value+with+spaces"
rawurlencode("path with spaces");  // "path%20with%20spaces"

About URL Encoder & Decoder