URL Encoder/Decoder

Complete URL encoding and decoding solution with support for both component and full URL encoding modes. Essential for web developers working with APIs, forms, and query parameters.

Encoding Mode:

Component (encodeURIComponent) Full URL (encodeURI)

Component: For query parameters, form data (encodes more characters)
Full URL: For complete URLs (preserves :, /, ?, # characters)

Text/URL Input (Encode)

URL Encoded Output

URL Encoded Input (Decode)

Decoded Text Output

Enter text or URL encoded data above to see real-time conversion results.

URL Encoding Explained

URL encoding converts characters into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet by replacing unsafe ASCII characters with % followed by hex digits.

When to use:

• Component: Query parameters, form data

• Full URL: Complete URLs with special characters

• API requests with special characters

• HTML form submissions

• Search queries with spaces/symbols

Key Features

• Dual encoding modes - Component vs Full URL encoding

• Real-time conversion - Instant encoding and decoding

• Bidirectional - Encode and decode in both directions

• One-click copy - Copy results to clipboard instantly

• Error handling - Clear feedback for invalid input

• No server processing - All conversion happens in browser

• Mobile responsive - Works on all devices

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) under certain circumstances. It converts characters into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet safely by replacing unsafe ASCII characters with a "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits.

The encoding process transforms characters that have special meanings in URLs (like spaces, ampersands, and slashes) into a safe format. For example, a space character becomes "%20", and a plus sign becomes "%2B".

URL encoding is essential for:

Web Forms: Safely transmitting form data with special characters
Query Parameters: Including spaces, symbols, and non-ASCII characters in URLs
API Requests: Encoding data for HTTP requests and responses
File Paths: Handling special characters in file names and paths
International Characters: Supporting Unicode characters in web addresses

Component vs Full URL Encoding

Component Encoding (encodeURIComponent)

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

Use for: Query parameters, form data, individual URI components

Example: "Hello World!" → "Hello%20World%21"

Full URL Encoding (encodeURI)

Encodes fewer characters, preserving URI structure characters like : / ? # [ ] @

Use for: Complete URLs, when you want to preserve the URL structure

Example: "https://example.com/path with spaces" → "https://example.com/path%20with%20spaces"

Practical Use Cases

API Development

When building REST APIs, encode query parameters to handle special characters safely. For example, searching for "C++ programming" in an API call:

GET /api/search?q=C%2B%2B%20programming

Form Submissions

HTML forms automatically URL-encode data, but when constructing URLs manually or working with complex form data, proper encoding prevents data corruption.

Email Links

Create safe mailto links with subjects containing special characters:

<a href="mailto:?subject=Hello%20World%21">Send Email</a>

File Downloads

Generate download links for files with special characters in their names, ensuring browsers can properly handle the file names.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

When should I use encodeURIComponent vs encodeURI?: Use encodeURIComponent for individual components like query parameters or form data. Use encodeURI when you have a complete URL that you want to encode while preserving its structure.
Why do spaces become %20 instead of +?: The %20 encoding is the standard URL encoding for spaces as defined in RFC 3986. The + encoding is a non-standard convention used in some older systems for form encoding, but URL encoding always uses %20.
Can I encode emojis and Unicode characters?: Yes, this tool supports Unicode characters. Emojis and international characters are properly encoded using UTF-8 byte sequences. For example, "🚀" becomes "%F0%9F%9A%80".
What characters don't need to be encoded?: In component encoding: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and symbols - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ). In full URL encoding, additional characters like : / ? # [ ] @ are also preserved.
Is URL encoding reversible?: Yes, URL encoding is fully reversible. You can decode any properly encoded URL back to its original form using decodeURIComponent or decodeURI.
What happens if I double-encode a string?: Double-encoding can cause issues. For example, encoding "%20" (encoded space) again becomes "%2520". Always decode first if you're unsure about the encoding state of your data.

Technical Details

This tool implements the standard URL encoding as specified in RFC 3986. The encoding uses UTF-8 as the character encoding standard, ensuring proper handling of international characters.

Encoding Rules:

ASCII alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) remain unchanged
Reserved characters (- _ . ! ~ * ' ( )) are preserved in component encoding
All other characters are percent-encoded as %XX where XX is the hexadecimal representation
Unicode characters are UTF-8 encoded before percent-encoding