How to Use
Paste Your URL or Text
Enter the URL or text string that needs encoding or decoding.
Choose Encode or Decode
Select whether to encode special characters or decode an already-encoded string.
Convert Instantly
Result appears immediately.
Copy Result
Copy the encoded or decoded text to use in your application.
About This Tool
URLs are picky about characters. They only officially support letters, numbers and a handful of symbols. Everything else needs to be encoded. If you have ever seen %20 in a URL and wondered what it means — that is a space character encoded for safe URL transmission.
Why URLs Need Special Encoding
The URL specification defines which characters are safe. Letters, digits and a few symbols can appear as-is. Everything else — spaces, ampersands, question marks and non-ASCII characters — must be percent-encoded. Percent encoding replaces the character with a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits. A space (ASCII 32, hex 20) becomes %20. An ampersand becomes %26.
When You Need URL Encoding
Query parameters are the most common case. A search URL like search.php?query=hello world breaks because of the space. It needs to be search.php?query=hello%20world. Email addresses in URLs need encoding — user@example.com contains @ which becomes %40. Non-English text in URLs requires encoding — Hindi, Arabic and other non-ASCII characters cannot appear directly.
Component vs Full URL Encoding
Component encoding encodes individual parameter values — it encodes almost everything including /, ? and &. Full URL encoding encodes a complete URL and preserves structural characters so the URL remains navigable. Use component encoding for parameter values, which is what our tool does by default.
Why Use This Tool?
Instant Encoding
Encode any URL or text for safe web transmission.
Unicode Support
Handles all languages, emoji and special characters.
Encode and Decode
Both directions — encode raw text or decode %XX strings.
Always Free
No account needed. Encode unlimited URLs free.
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Frequently Asked Questions
%20 is the percent-encoded representation of a space character. Spaces cannot appear in URLs and must be encoded as %20. Some older systems use + for spaces in query strings.