URL Encoder Decoder for Links and Query Values
Runs 100% in your browser — your text never leaves this page, and nothing is uploaded or stored.
This url encoder decoder makes text safe for URLs — spaces to %20, reserved characters percent-encoded — and decodes it back, in component or full-URL mode. Use this url encoder decoder online to percent encode url online for links and query strings — component mode for a single value, full-URL mode for a whole address — and decode it back to readable text.
How to Use the URL Encoder Decoder
- Paste your text or URL into the box — or press Load sample to encode the example address with its tricky query.
- Choose the mode: Encode component for a single query value, Encode full URL for a whole address, Decode to reverse.
- Read the result in the result box — it updates the moment you type or switch modes.
- Copy the encoded (or decoded) text straight into your link, code or document.
About this tool
URLs can only contain a limited set of characters. Everything else — spaces, quotes, ampersands, non-English letters — must be percent-encoded to travel safely, or your links break and your query parameters split in the wrong places. The classic trap is choosing the wrong rule for the job: encode a whole URL with component rules and its structure is destroyed; encode a query value with full-URL rules and a stray & inside the value starts a new parameter. Component mode applies the strict rules — every reserved character, :, /, ?, &, =, even % itself, is encoded — which is exactly what one value inside a query string needs. Full-URL mode encodes only what a whole address cannot contain and leaves the structural characters standing, so the address still works as an address. Decoding reverses either mode. It also converts + back into spaces, the way form data and query strings use it, and it reads UTF-8 percent sequences properly, so an encoded Arabic or accented word comes back as itself rather than scrambled bytes. A malformed sequence — a stray % or a code cut short — is reported with a plain message instead of garbage. Non-English text encodes as its UTF-8 bytes, one % code per byte — the pair of curly quotes in the sample below becomes six codes between them. Encoding happens locally in your browser: URLs carrying private tokens or internal addresses never leave your device. For data that has to travel as plain characters rather than inside a link, the base64 encode decode tool is the other half of the pair. The full list of which characters get encoded, and why, is in MDN's glossary entry on percent-encoding. Percent encoding: encode special characters in links and query strings so they work everywhere.Worked example
Here is the sample address that comes with the tool, run through the default Encode component mode: You pastehttps://example.com/search?q=fish & chips “special” 100% organicYou get
https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dfish%20%26%20chips%20%E2%80%9Cspecial%E2%80%9D%20100%25%20organicThat is the sample address treated as one value, so even its :// and ? were encoded — right for a query parameter, wrong for a clickable link. Switch to Encode full URL and the skeleton (https://, the ?, the &) survives, with the spaces (%20), the % sign (%25) and the curly quotes (%E2%80%9C, %E2%80%9D) encoded instead.
Features
- Both encode modes, clearly labelled: strict component encoding for values, structure-preserving encoding for whole URLs.
- A decoder that reverses either mode and turns + back into spaces, as form data expects.
- Correct UTF-8 handling: non-English letters and emoji encode per byte and decode back into themselves.
- Plain-language errors for malformed input instead of silent garbage.
- Instant conversion as you type or switch modes — no submit, no round-trip.
- Private by design: encoding runs in your browser, so URLs with private tokens never leave your device.