URL Encode/Decode

What this tool does

This tool percent-encodes text so it can be safely included in a URL — as a query string value, a path segment, or a form field — and decodes percent-encoded strings back to plain, readable text. Characters outside the small set that's safe in a URL (letters, digits, and a handful of punctuation marks) get replaced with a % followed by their hex byte value, so spaces, ampersands, question marks, and non-ASCII characters like emoji or accented letters don't get misread as part of the URL's structure. Encoding and decoding both happen locally in your browser using UTF-8 — nothing is uploaded.

Example use case

If you're building a link that passes a search term, email address, or freeform text as a query parameter (for example ?q=hello world & more), encoding it first prevents the space and ampersand from breaking the URL. Conversely, when you copy a link from a browser address bar or server log and it's full of %20 and %2F sequences, decoding it turns that back into text you can actually read.

Note on invalid input

Decoding requires well-formed percent-encoded sequences — a stray % not followed by two valid hex digits isn't valid input. If you paste something that can't be decoded, the tool reports that immediately instead of showing garbled output.