Security Tools

URL Encoder/Decoder

Encode text to URL-safe format and decode URL-encoded text back to its original form. Essential tool for web development and URL parameter handling.

beginner1-2 minutesRuns in your browser
URL EncodingPercent EncodingWeb DevelopmentAPI Development

Interactive workspace

Inputs stay on your device — nothing is sent to our servers unless you choose to share.

Client-side only
|
Output will appear here...

History

No history yet. Process some text to see your history here.

Preset Templates (Click to Use)

Email Address

email

Encode email for URL parameters

user@example.com

Form Data

form

Encode form field value

John Doe

Search Query

search

Encode search query string

web development tutorial

API Parameter

api

Encode API parameter value

api_key=12345&user=admin

File Path

custom

Encode file path for URL

/path/to/file name.txt

Special Characters

custom

Encode text with special characters

Hello & World = Test

Quick Examples (Click to Use)

Encode Examples

Text: Hello World
Encoded: Hello%20World
Text: user@example.com
Encoded: user%40example.com
Text: Hello & World
Encoded: Hello%20%26%20World
Text: price=$100
Encoded: price%3D%24100
Text: search?q=test
Encoded: search%3Fq%3Dtest

Decode Examples

Encoded: Hello%20World
Text: Hello World
Encoded: user%40example.com
Text: user@example.com
Encoded: Hello%20%26%20World
Text: Hello & World
Encoded: price%3D%24100
Text: price=$100
Encoded: search%3Fq%3Dtest
Text: search?q=test

Common URL Encoded Characters

CharacterURL EncodedDescription
Space%20Space character
@%40At symbol
&%26Ampersand
=%3DEquals sign
+%2BPlus sign
#%23Hash/pound sign
?%3FQuestion mark
/%2FForward slash

Security Notice

  • • URL encoding is not encryption - it's just encoding
  • • URL encoded data can be easily decoded by anyone
  • • Do not use URL encoding for storing sensitive information
  • • This tool is for educational and utility purposes only
  • • Always use HTTPS when transmitting sensitive data

About URL Encoding

URL encoding (also known as percent-encoding) is a method to encode special characters in URLs. It replaces unsafe ASCII characters with a "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits.

encodeURIComponent: Encodes all characters except: A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ! ~ * ' ( )

encodeURI: Encodes all characters except: A-Z a-z 0-9 ; , / ? : @ & = + $ - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ) #

Documentation

How to use this tool, practical use cases, and technical notes.

The URL Encoder / Decoder is designed for immediate use — no configuration, no learning curve. Here is a complete walkthrough of every feature and how to get the most value from each one.


Basic Encode Operation

Goal: Convert plain text to a URL-safe encoded string.

  1. Click the "Encode" tab (active by default).

  2. In the Input Text field, type or paste the text you want to encode.

  3. The output field updates in real time — no button press required.

  4. Click the copy icon next to the output to copy the encoded string to your clipboard.

  5. Use the "Clear" button to reset both fields.

Example:

Input

Output (Encoded)

Hello World

Hello%20World

user@example.com

user%40example.com

api_key=abc&user=john

api_key%3Dabc%26user%3Djohn

/path/to/file name.txt

%2Fpath%2Fto%2Ffile%20name.txt

price=$100.00

price%3D%24100.00

search?q=test result

search%3Fq%3Dtest%20result


Basic Decode Operation

Goal: Convert a percent-encoded string back to human-readable plain text.

  1. Click the "Decode" tab.

  2. Paste your percent-encoded string into the Input Text field.

  3. The decoded output appears instantly in the output panel.

  4. The tool validates the encoding format before decoding — malformed sequences are flagged.

Example:

Input (Encoded)

Output (Decoded)

Hello%20World

Hello World

user%40example.com

user@example.com

Hello%20%26%20World

Hello & World

price%3D%24100

price=$100

search%3Fq%3Dtest

search?q=test

%2Fhome%2Fuser%2Fdocs

/home/user/docs


Auto-Detect Mode

When you are unsure whether your input is encoded or plain text, switch to "Auto-detect". The tool inspects the input for %XX patterns and the presence of unencoded reserved characters to determine whether to encode or decode — then applies the appropriate operation automatically.

When Auto-detect is reliable:

  • Input is clearly encoded (contains %20, %3D, etc.)

  • Input is clearly plain text (contains raw spaces, @, &, etc.)

When to override Auto-detect:

  • Input contains both encoded and unencoded sections (partially encoded strings)

  • You want to double-encode (encode an already-encoded string)

  • You are testing specific edge cases


Component Mode

Goal: Parse a complete URL and encode/decode each structural component independently.

Switch to "Component" mode and paste a full URL. The tool splits the URL into:

URL Component

Example

Encoding Behavior

Scheme

https

Never encoded

Username

admin

encodeURIComponent

Password

p@ssw0rd!

encodeURIComponent

Host / Domain

api.example.com

Punycode for IDN; not percent-encoded

Port

8080

Never encoded

Path

/search/results

Path segment encoding (preserves /)

Query string

q=hello world&lang=en

encodeURIComponent per key-value pair

Fragment

section-2

encodeURIComponent

This mode is especially valuable when you need to encode only the query parameters of a URL without accidentally encoding the slashes in the path or the :// in the scheme.


URI Mode

Toggle "URI" mode to switch from encodeURIComponent to encodeURI encoding semantics. This mode is designed for encoding a complete, structurally intact URL when you need to make it safe for embedding in HTML, Markdown links, email clients, or configuration files — without breaking the URL's structure.

Character

encodeURIComponent

encodeURI (URI mode)

/

%2F

/ (left intact)

?

%3F

? (left intact)

&

%26

& (left intact)

=

%3D

= (left intact)

#

%23

# (left intact)

@

%40

@ (left intact)

Space

%20

%20 (encoded)

{

%7B

%7B (encoded)


Batch Mode

Goal: Encode or decode multiple strings simultaneously.

  1. Switch to "Batch Mode".

  2. Enter one value per line in the input area.

  3. The output panel displays the encoded/decoded version of each line in the same order.

  4. Copy the entire batch output at once.

Batch Mode is ideal for:

  • Encoding a list of usernames, emails, or IDs for bulk URL construction

  • Decoding multiple query parameter values extracted from server logs

  • Processing a list of file paths or API endpoint parameters

  • Security testing: generating a batch of encoded payloads for fuzzing


URL Parser

The URL Parser feature deconstructs any URL you paste into a clearly labeled component breakdown. This is particularly useful when debugging complex URLs with multiple query parameters, authentication credentials embedded in the URL, or non-standard ports and paths.

Example input: https://api.example.com:8443/v2/search?q=hello world&lang=en#results

Parsed Component

Value

Scheme

https

Host

api.example.com

Port

8443

Path

/v2/search

Query string

q=hello world&lang=en

Query parameters

q = hello world, lang = en

Fragment

results


Visual Map

The Visual Map mode provides a character-level overlay of the encoded output, highlighting which characters were encoded, what they encode to, and their hex values. This is particularly valuable for:

  • Learning exactly which characters triggered encoding and why

  • Debugging partially encoded strings with mixed safe/unsafe characters

  • Security research: visualizing encoding patterns in suspicious URLs


Preset Templates

The tool ships with six preset templates that populate the input field with a representative example and apply the relevant encoding. Click any preset to instantly see how that input type gets encoded:

Preset

Input Example

Primary Learning

Email Address

user@example.com

@%40

Form Data

John Doe

Space → %20

Search Query

web development tutorial

Multi-word URL encoding

API Parameter

api_key=12345&user=admin

=%3D, &%26

File Path

/path/to/file name.txt

/ and space encoding

Special Characters

Hello & World = Test

Multiple reserved characters


History

Every encode/decode operation is logged to the History panel within your session. History lets you:

  • Review previous conversions without re-entering input

  • Click any history item to reload it into the input field

  • Track a sequence of encoding operations when debugging a complex URL

History is session-only and clears automatically when you close or refresh the tab — nothing is stored persistently.

URL Encoder/Decoder - Encode and Decode URL Parameters