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Free URL Encoder & Decoder Online

Developer Tools

What is Free URL Encoder & Decoder Online?

URL Encoder is a tool that converts characters into a format safe for use in URLs. URLs can only contain a limited set of characters - letters, digits, hyphens, periods, and underscores. Any other character must be percent-encoded: a % followed by two hexadecimal digits. For example, a space becomes %20, and & becomes %26. This is essential when building query parameters, passing text in paths, or working with APIs that require properly encoded inputs.

How it works

The encoder mirrors JavaScript's encodeURIComponent function - it encodes all characters except A-Z a-z 0-9 - _ . ~. The decoder reverses the process, converting %XX sequences back to their original characters. Invalid sequences (like %ZZ) produce a clear error.

Features & Benefits

  • Runs entirely in your browser with no server calls
  • Handles all percent-encoded characters including %20 spaces
  • Shows clear errors for malformed percent-encoding sequences
  • Useful for building query strings, API calls, and debugging URLs

Frequently Asked Questions

What is URL encoding?

URL encoding (percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in URLs - like spaces, &, =, and # - into a safe format using a % followed by two hex digits (e.g., space becomes %20).

When do I need to URL encode?

When building query parameters, embedding URLs inside other URLs, or working with APIs that require encoded inputs.

Is this the same as encodeURIComponent?

Yes, this tool uses the same encoding as JavaScript's encodeURIComponent function.

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