URL Encoder & Decoder - Free Online Tool

Encode special characters in URLs or decode percent-encoded strings with our free online tool.

📚 Complete URL Encoding Guide

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) converts characters that aren’t allowed in URLs into a format that can be transmitted safely. Special characters are replaced with a % followed by their hexadecimal value.

Why Do You Need URL Encoding?

URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Characters like spaces, &, =, ?, and non-ASCII characters must be encoded.

encodeURIComponent vs encodeURI

// encodeURIComponent - encode everything except A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ! ~ * ' ( )
encodeURIComponent('hello world&foo=bar');
// "hello%20world%26foo%3Dbar"

// encodeURI - preserves URL structure characters
encodeURI('https://example.com/path?q=hello world');
// "https://example.com/path?q=hello%20world"

Common Use Cases

• Query parameters - Passing user input in URLs
• Form submissions - application/x-www-form-urlencoded format
• API requests - Encoding special characters in endpoints
• Redirect URLs - Encoding callback URLs

Try It Now

Use our free URL encoding tool - secure, fast, and runs entirely in your browser.