🔗 URL Encode / Decode
Quick answer
Percent-encoding replaces characters that are unsafe in a URL with a % sign followed by two hex digits of their UTF-8 bytes — a space becomes %20 and é becomes %C3%A9. Use Component mode for a single value such as a search query, and Full URL mode when encoding a complete address.
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How to use the URL Encode / Decode
- Paste your URL or text into the input box.
- Choose Component mode for one value, or Full URL mode for a whole address.
- Click Encode to percent-encode it, or Decode to turn % sequences back into text.
- If decoding fails, the input contains an invalid % sequence — fix it and try again.
- Copy the output with one click.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Component and Full URL mode?
Component mode (encodeURIComponent) also encodes characters like / ? & and =, because the value must not break out of its place in the URL. Full URL mode (encodeURI) leaves those structural characters untouched and only encodes things like spaces and non-ASCII letters.
Why does a space sometimes show as + instead of %20?
In form submissions (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), a space is written as +. In a URL path or a strict percent-encoding, a space is %20. This tool follows the URL standard and uses %20.
Why did decoding fail with an error?
The text contains an incomplete or invalid percent sequence, such as %2 or %ZZ, or bytes that are not valid UTF-8. Browsers throw a URIError in that case, and this tool shows it instead of guessing.