Easily convert special characters in URLs to their percent-encoded format or decode them back to plain text. This tool is essential for developers handling query parameters, API requests, and debugging web addresses.
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Tip
Use encodeURIComponent when building query strings to ensure '?' and '&' characters are safely handled.
Did You Know?
URL encoding increases the length of a string because most special characters are replaced by three-character sequences.
URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). Characters that are not allowed in a URL must be replaced by a '%' followed by two hexadecimal digits. This process is essential for web communication because URLs can only contain a limited set of characters from the US-ASCII character set. Reserved characters (like '/', ':', or '?') have special meanings and must be encoded when they are part of the data itself, such as in a search query or a user-submitted value.
Best Practice
Always decode user-provided URLs before performing logic to prevent security vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting.
Q: What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent? A: encodeURI is intended for a full URL, while encodeURIComponent is used for data meant for a query parameter as it encodes more characters like slashes.
Q: Is URL encoding the same as Base64? A: No. URL encoding replaces specific characters with percent signs and hex codes, whereas Base64 converts data into a specific 64-character set.
Q: Why are spaces encoded as %20? A: In the URI specification, %20 is the hex representation for a space character, ensuring browsers treat it as a single space rather than a separator.
Q: Can I decode a URL multiple times? A: Yes, if a URL has been double-encoded (a common error), you can run the decoder twice to retrieve the original plain text.
Tip
If you see a '+' sign in a URL where a space should be, it is likely using application/x-www-form-urlencoded formatting.