Percent-encode or decode URLs and query strings.
The URL Encode / Decode tool converts special characters in a string to percent-encoded format safe for use in URLs, and decodes percent-encoded strings back to readable text. It is essential when building query strings, passing parameters to APIs, or debugging redirect URLs that contain encoded characters.
URLs can only legally contain a specific set of ASCII characters. Characters like spaces, ampersands, question marks, and non-ASCII letters (accents, CJK characters, emoji) must be percent-encoded — replaced with a % sign followed by two hex digits — so they are not misinterpreted as URL syntax by browsers and servers.
encodeURI encodes a full URL and deliberately leaves characters like /, ?, =, and & unencoded because they are valid URL structure. encodeURIComponent encodes a single parameter value and encodes those structural characters too, which is what you want when encoding query string values. This tool follows the encodeURIComponent behaviour.
Both represent a space, but in different contexts. %20 is the standard percent-encoding used in path segments and modern query strings. The + sign is a legacy encoding used specifically in HTML form data (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). Most server frameworks accept both, but %20 is the more universally correct choice.
Yes. Paste the entire URL and the decoder will convert all percent-encoded sequences back to human-readable characters, making it easy to inspect long redirect chains or debug URLs generated by analytics tools.