Free URL Encoder and Decoder Online

A URL encoder converts special characters in URLs to their percent-encoded form so they can be safely transmitted over the internet. URLs may only contain ASCII characters: spaces, ampersands, equals signs, and non-ASCII letters must be encoded as a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits (space = %20, & = %26, = = %3D). Encoding errors are a common cause of broken API requests, failed redirects, and security vulnerabilities.

Common characters and their URL-encoded equivalents

Space: %20 (or + in form data)
& (ampersand): %26
= (equals): %3D
+ (plus): %2B
/ (slash): %2F
? (question mark): %3F
# (hash): %23
@ (at): %40

encodeURIComponent vs encodeURI

encodeURIComponent: Encodes ALL special characters including / ? # & =. Use this for individual query parameter values when building API request URLs.
encodeURI: Preserves URL structure characters like / ? # & = while encoding spaces and non-ASCII characters. Use this for complete URL strings.

How to encode or decode a URL

Paste your URL or query string into the input field.
Choose Encode or Decode and select the encoding mode.
The result appears instantly with statistics on characters encoded.
Use the URL Parser tab to break any URL into protocol, hostname, path, query params, and hash fragment.
Copy individual URL components or the full result to clipboard.

Developer use cases

API requests: Encode query parameter values before appending them to a URL to prevent broken requests.
Redirect debugging: Decode a multi-encoded redirect URL to find the final destination.
OAuth and JWT: Decode redirect_uri and state parameters in OAuth flows.
Web scraping: Encode search terms and filters when constructing target URLs programmatically.

URL Encoder/Decoder