URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode, decode, and parse URLs and query strings with real-time parameter breakdown.
| Parameter (Key) | Decoded Value | Action |
|---|---|---|
| No query parameters found in input URL. | ||
Percent-Encoding (RFC 3986)
URL encoding, or percent-encoding, is a mechanism defined in RFC 3986 for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). Characters outside the unreserved character set (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _, ., ~) are represented as %XX, where XX is the hexadecimal value of the character in UTF-8.
Common Percent-Encoded Characters
What is URL Encoding (Percent-Encoding)?
URLs can only be sent over the Internet using the ASCII character-set. If a URL contains characters outside the ASCII set, or reserved characters like spaces or ampersands, the URL has to be converted into a valid ASCII format. URL encoding replaces these unsafe characters with a "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do I need to URL-encode text?
Any time a string with special characters (spaces, &, =, ?, non-ASCII characters) needs to be included in a URL — for example, in query parameters — since those characters have reserved meaning in URL syntax and must be percent-encoded to be transmitted safely.
What does %20 mean in a URL?
%20 is the percent-encoded representation of a space character. You may also see a + used for spaces specifically within query strings (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), which is a related but distinct encoding convention.
What's the difference between encodeURIComponent and encodeURI in JavaScript?
encodeURIComponent encodes nearly all reserved characters and is meant for encoding a single component (like a query parameter value). encodeURI leaves characters like /, :, and ? untouched since it's meant for encoding a complete URL where those characters are structurally meaningful.
Can I parse and edit individual query parameters with this tool?
Yes — the tool breaks a URL's query string into an editable key-value table, so you can inspect, add, or modify individual parameters without manually tracking encoding for each one.
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