URL Encoder & Decoder
Local only — nothing is uploaded unless you save or share it.
A URL encoder and decoder for links and query strings, percent-encoded properly.
- Paste a URL, a query value, or an encoded string
- Choose component or full-URL mode, then Encode or Decode
- Copy the result, or expand the breakdown to inspect the parts
URL breakdown
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About this tool
URLs may only contain a limited set of characters, so anything else has to be percent-encoded: a space becomes %20, an ampersand becomes %26, and so on. Getting this wrong is how query parameters silently break, usually when a value contains an ampersand or a plus sign and the server reads it as structure rather than content. This tool offers both encoding modes, and the difference matters. Component mode escapes the reserved characters too, which is what you want for a value going inside a query string or path segment. Full mode leaves the URL's own structure alone, so you can tidy a complete link without destroying it. Decoding gives you clear feedback rather than a silent failure when the input contains a stray percent sign. There is also a breakdown view that splits any URL into its scheme, host, path, query parameters and fragment, which makes a long tracking-laden link readable at a glance. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the two modes?
Component mode escapes reserved characters such as &, ?, =, / and #, so it is correct for a single value going inside a URL. Full mode leaves those intact so a complete URL stays functional. Using full mode on a query value is the classic cause of parameters breaking.
What is percent encoding?
The rule that turns a space into %20 and an ampersand into %26 — characters that would otherwise mean something structural to a URL are replaced by a percent sign and their hex code. To encode url online is to apply it; the url decoder here does the reverse, which is how you read back a link somebody sent you with a query string full of %3A and %2F.
Why does my space sometimes become %20 and sometimes a plus?
Percent-encoding uses %20 everywhere. The plus sign comes from the older form-encoding rules used in application/x-www-form-urlencoded bodies and some query strings. Both appear in the wild, so servers usually accept either, but %20 is the safer choice.
Why does decoding fail with an error?
Almost always because the input contains a percent sign that is not followed by two hexadecimal digits, which is invalid. That happens when a literal percent character was never encoded in the first place, or when a string was decoded twice.
Is it safe to paste a URL containing a token?
Yes. Encoding and decoding happen entirely in your browser, so nothing you paste is transmitted or logged. That said, treat any URL containing a session token as a secret regardless of what tool you use.
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