URL Encoder & Decoder
Encode or decode URLs and query strings instantly in your browser. Handles UTF-8, full URLs and individual components. Nothing is uploaded.
Related tools
All Developer tools →This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to our servers, so there is nothing for us to store or see.
About the URL Encoder & Decoder
URLs may only contain a limited set of ASCII characters, so anything else — a space, an ampersand inside a value, an accented letter, an emoji — has to be percent-encoded before it can travel safely in a link or a query string.
This tool converts in both directions and lets you choose between two modes that are easy to confuse. Component mode encodes everything that is not unreserved, including &, =, ? and / — use it for a single parameter value. Full URL mode leaves the structural characters alone so the address stays a working address, and only escapes what would genuinely break it.
Picking the wrong one is the cause of most URL-encoding bugs: encode a whole URL in component mode and every slash becomes %2F, leaving a string that no longer resolves.
How to use the URL Encoder & Decoder
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Choose encode or decode
Encode turns readable text into percent-encoded form. Decode turns it back.
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Pick the right scope
Use Component for a single query-string value. Use Full URL when the input is a complete address you want to keep working.
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Paste your text
Type or paste into the left box. Conversion happens as you type, with no button to press.
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Copy the result
Copy puts the output on your clipboard. Download saves it as a text file.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between component and full URL mode?
Component mode escapes every reserved character, including slashes, ampersands and question marks — correct when you are encoding one value to put inside a query string. Full URL mode preserves those structural characters so a complete address remains usable, and only escapes things like spaces and non-ASCII text.
Why did my whole URL turn into percent signs?
You almost certainly used component mode on a full address. That mode deliberately escapes slashes and colons because inside a parameter value they are just data. Switch to Full URL mode and the structure will be preserved.
How are spaces encoded — %20 or a plus sign?
This tool produces %20, which is correct everywhere in a URL. The plus sign only means a space in the older application/x-www-form-urlencoded format used by HTML form submissions. When decoding, a plus is left as a literal plus, because in a modern URL path or query that is what it means.
Does it handle emoji and non-English characters?
Yes. Characters outside ASCII are converted to their UTF-8 bytes and each byte is percent-encoded, which is what the URL standard requires. Decoding reverses this exactly, so text in any script round-trips without loss.
Is my input sent anywhere?
No. Encoding and decoding use your browser built-in URI functions and happen entirely on your device. URLs frequently contain session tokens and internal hostnames, so the only responsible way to handle them is not to receive them at all.