When should I use URL encoding?

Use URL encoding when you need to include special characters (spaces, accented letters, symbols) in a URL or query string parameter. Without encoding, these characters can break the URL structure or be misinterpreted by web servers and browsers.

Which characters need to be URL encoded?

Characters that must be encoded include spaces, angle brackets ( ), curly braces ({ }), pipes (|), backslashes, carets (^), square brackets, backticks, and non-ASCII characters. Safe characters that do not need encoding include letters A-Z, digits 0-9, and the symbols - _ . ~

What is %20 in a URL?

%20 is the percent-encoded representation of a space character. In URLs a space cannot be used directly, so it is replaced with %20. You may also see a plus sign (+) used to represent spaces, which is common in HTML form submissions and query strings.

Is URL decoding the reverse of encoding?

Yes. URL decoding converts percent-encoded sequences back into their original characters. For example %20 becomes a space and %2F becomes a forward slash. This tool automatically detects whether your input is encoded and reverses the encoding back to plain text.

URL Encoder & Decoder — Encode and Decode URLs Online

2on / / Tools / Dev Tools / URL Encoder & Decoder

URL Encoder & Decoder

Input

Output

Frequently Asked Questions

URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in URLs into a format that can be safely transmitted. Special characters are replaced with a percent sign followed by their hexadecimal ASCII code, for example a space becomes %20.

Most Popular Dev Tools

All Time

MD5 Hash Generator - Online MD5 Converter

916 hits

Base64 Encoder & Decoder — Encode and Decode Online

766 hits

Word Counter - Word Count Calculator

531 hits

Character Counter - Character Count Calculator

528 hits

Keyword Density Checker - Analyze Keyword Frequency Online

516 hits

New

Unix Timestamp Converter Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates and vice versa instantly. Free online epoch time converter with timezone support and copy function.

View Page

Popular Today

SHA1 Generator Generate SHA-1 hashes instantly from any text or string. Free online tool with uppercase, lowercase output and one-click copy.

View Page

Related Dev Tools

MD5 Hash Generator Generate MD5 hashes instantly from text or files. Online MD5 converter tool for developers, encryption testing, and checksum generation.

Base64 Encoder & Decoder Encode or decode Base64 strings instantly. Online Base64 encoder and decoder for text and files. No data is sent to any server.

Word Counter Free online word counter tool. Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time and more instantly.

Character Counter Online character counter. Count characters with and without spaces, words, and lines. Check SEO limits for meta descriptions, titles, and social media posts.

Keyword Density Checker Online keyword density checker. Analyze keyword frequency and percentage in any text or URL. Optimize your content for SEO with accurate keyword density analysis.

Other Tools You May Like

No related content found