What Is URL Encoding?

URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) is a method of converting characters that aren't allowed in URLs into a safe format. Each unsafe character is replaced with a % symbol followed by its two-digit hexadecimal code. For example, a space becomes %20, and an ampersand becomes %26.

Why Is URL Encoding Needed?

URLs can only contain a limited set of characters safely. Reserved characters like ?, &, =, and # have special meaning in URLs — if you include them literally, they'll be misinterpreted by servers and browsers. Non-ASCII characters (é, ü, ñ, 中文, emoji) and unsafe ASCII characters (space, <, >, ") must also be encoded.

Original:   hello world
Encoded:    hello%20world

Original:   search?q=café au lait&sort=asc
Encoded:    search%3Fq%3Dcaf%C3%A9%20au%20lait%26sort%3Dasc

How to Use This Tool

Choose a mode: Encode or Decode.
Pick an encoding option — Component, Full URL, or Safe/Minimal.
Type or paste your URL or text into the input box.
Click the main button to convert. The result appears instantly.
View the URL breakdown below to see the protocol, host, path, and query parameters.

Encoding Modes Explained

Component encoding (default): Uses JavaScript's encodeURIComponent(). Encodes everything except A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ). Best for encoding a single value — like a search query or a query parameter value.
Full URL encoding: Uses JavaScript's encodeURI(). Also preserves URL structural characters like : / ? # & = so the URL stays syntactically valid. Best for encoding an entire URL that already has structure.
Safe / minimal encoding: Encodes only characters that are truly unsafe in a URL — spaces, quotes, angle brackets, curly braces, pipes, backslashes, carets, backticks, and non-ASCII. Preserves almost all URL syntax. Best for gently cleaning URLs that have spaces or odd characters.

Reserved vs Unreserved Characters

The URL spec (RFC 3986) defines three character sets:

Unreserved (safe, never encoded): A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ~
Reserved (have special meaning): ! * ' ( ) ; : @ & = + $ , / ? # [ ]
Unsafe (must be encoded): space, ", <, >, %, {, }, |, \, ^, `, and all non-ASCII

Common Use Cases

Search queries — encode user input before appending to a URL.
Query parameters — encode values that contain &, =, or spaces.
API calls — build safe request URLs programmatically.
File paths — encode filenames with spaces or special characters.
Debugging — decode a long URL to see what's actually being sent.
Reading analytics — decode referral URLs and campaign parameters.
OAuth and redirects — encode callback URLs and state parameters.

Component vs Full URL — Which Should I Use?

Use Component encoding when you're encoding a value — like a search term, a user's name, or a parameter value that will be inserted into a URL.
Use Full URL encoding when you're encoding an entire URL that already has ?, &, and / in it, and you don't want those characters destroyed.
Use Safe encoding when you just want to fix spaces and odd characters in an otherwise-valid URL.

The `+` vs `%20` Question

In the query string portion of a URL (after ?), + is often used as a shorthand for a space, especially in HTML form submissions (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). However, this is not a general URL rule — in the path portion, + means a literal plus sign.

When you decode with "Decode + as space" enabled, the tool converts + to a space. This is standard for query strings. When disabled, + stays as a literal plus sign.

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Privacy Note

All encoding and decoding happens in your browser. Your input is never uploaded to a server, never stored, and never shared. Close the tab and it's gone.

URL Encoder / Decoder