Free Online URL Encoder Decoder

When you include special characters in a URL, browsers automatically encode them into a percent-encoded format. Our free URL Encoder Decoder tool lets you manually encode or decode any URL or string instantly — no installation, no signup required.

What Is URL Encoding?

URLs can only contain a limited set of characters defined by the RFC 3986 standard. Characters outside this set — such as spaces, symbols, and non-ASCII characters — must be converted into a safe format using percent encoding.

Each unsafe character is replaced with a % sign followed by its two-digit hexadecimal ASCII code. For example, a space becomes %20 and the @ symbol becomes %40.

Common URL Encoding Reference

Original CharacterEncoded ValueDescription Space%20Most common encoding @%40Used in email addresses &%26Query string separator =%3DKey-value assignment +%2BPlus sign /%2FPath separator ?%3FQuery string start #%23Fragment identifier :%3AProtocol separator ,%2CComma

Practical Example

Original URL with spaces and special characters:

https://example.com/search?q=hello world&lang=en

After URL encoding:

https://example.com/search?q=hello%20world&lang=en

Decoding example — convert back to readable form:

Input:  https://example.com/path%2Fto%2Fpage%3Fid%3D42
Output: https://example.com/path/to/page?id=42

When Do You Need URL Encoding?

• API requests — Query parameters with special characters must be encoded before sending
• Search queries — Search terms with spaces or symbols need encoding
• Non-Latin text — Arabic, Urdu, Chinese or any non-ASCII text in URLs
• Form data submission — Form values are URL-encoded before being sent to the server
• Redirect URLs — When embedding one URL inside another as a parameter
• OAuth and authentication — Tokens and keys often contain characters that need encoding

URL Encoding vs Base64 Encoding

These two are often confused but serve different purposes:

URL EncodingBase64 Encoding PurposeMake URLs safeEncode binary data as text Output%XX formatLetters, numbers, +, / Use caseQuery strings, pathsImages, files, API payloads ReversibleYesYes

Use URL encoding for URLs and query strings. Use Base64 encoding for binary data or file content.

How to Use the URL Encoder Decoder

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between encoding a full URL and encoding a parameter? When encoding a full URL you should only encode the parameter values, not the entire URL. Encoding the full URL will also encode the :// and / which breaks the URL structure.

Why does a space sometimes appear as + instead of %20? In HTML form data (application/x-www-form-urlencoded format), spaces are encoded as +. In standard URL encoding (RFC 3986), spaces are encoded as %20. Our tool uses the standard %20 format.

Is my data sent to a server? No. All encoding and decoding happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your data is never sent anywhere.

Can I encode non-English text like Arabic or Urdu? Yes. Non-ASCII characters are first converted to their UTF-8 byte sequences and then each byte is percent-encoded. This is the correct way to include international text in URLs.

Try our free URL Encoder Decoder now — fast, private, and works entirely in your browser.