Why do URLs need encoding?

Characters like spaces, ampersands, slashes, and question marks have structural meaning in URLs. Encoding ensures they are interpreted as query data rather than protocol delimiters.

What is percent-encoding?

Percent-encoding replaces non-ASCII or reserved characters with a "%" followed by their two-digit hexadecimal ASCII value (e.g. space becomes %20).

Dev Tools

URL Encoder/Decoder

Encode or decode URLs and query parameters.

100% Private & Client-Side Execution

URLs and query strings remain entirely inside your browser.

About URL Encoder/Decoder

URL Encoder converts reserved characters, symbols, and spaces into standard percent-encoded sequences (%20, %2F, %3F) to ensure URLs remain RFC 3986 compliant.

How to Use URL Encoder/Decoder

Choose "Encode" or "Decode" mode.
Paste your URL string or query parameters into the input box.
View the transformed result instantly.
If you attempt to decode an invalid sequence, a clear error banner alerts you to the malformed character.

Common Real-World Use Cases

Digital Marketers: Safely format campaign UTM parameters containing spaces, ampersands, and symbols.
Backend Engineers: Debug API query strings and callback webhook parameters.
Webmasters: Encode redirect targets to prevent broken link parsing.

Technical Specifications & Limitations

Uses standard encodeURIComponent and decodeURIComponent with malformed error boundary protection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do URLs need encoding?: Characters like spaces, ampersands, slashes, and question marks have structural meaning in URLs. Encoding ensures they are interpreted as query data rather than protocol delimiters.
What is percent-encoding?: Percent-encoding replaces non-ASCII or reserved characters with a "%" followed by their two-digit hexadecimal ASCII value (e.g. space becomes %20).