What is URL Encoding?
URL encoding (percent encoding) turns characters that are not allowed in URLs into a safe form: a % followed by two hex digits (e.g. space → %20, & → %26). That way browsers and servers transmit values correctly.
URLs only allow a limited character set per RFC 3986. Spaces, #, &, and = have special meaning in URLs, so literal data must be encoded. Typical uses: search queries in ?q=, passing emails or paths as parameters, GET form data, debugging broken links, API query strings with user input.
How to Use This URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode: open Encode, paste text with spaces or special characters, copy the percent-encoded result.
Decode: open Decode, paste something like hello%20world%21, read the readable text.
Encode only parameter values, not an entire URL — otherwise you would encode :// and ? which are structural.
Features
- Percent-encode and decode strings
- Instant results in the browser
- No signup; local processing
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between %20 and + for spaces?
%20 is standard percent encoding. + means space in application/x-www-form-urlencoded (HTML forms). For paths prefer %20; forms often use +.
Should I encode an entire URL?
Encode only the values inside query parameters, not the full URL structure.
Which characters do not need encoding?
Letters, digits, and - _ . ~ are unreserved and usually safe unencoded.
Is URL encoding the same as Base64?
No. URL encoding uses % for unsafe characters; Base64 is a different alphabet for binary-as-text.