What is URL encoding?

URL encoding (percent encoding) replaces special characters in a URL with a % sign followed by two hex digits, e.g. a space becomes %20.

When do I need to URL encode?

When passing user input as a query parameter, embedding special characters in a URL, or building API requests manually.

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURI encodes a full URL and preserves characters like / and ?. encodeURIComponent encodes a single parameter value and encodes those characters too. This tool uses encodeURIComponent.

URL Encoder / Decoder

Developer Tools· 30 tools

Free online URL encoder and decoder. Encode special characters in URLs to percent-encoded format (%20, %2F, etc.), or decode percent-encoded strings back to readable text. Essential for building and debugging web requests.

Original Text

Encoded Output

Frequently Asked Questions

References

RFC 3986 — Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax — IETF
URL Standard — WHATWG

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Frequently Asked Questions

References and sources

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