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URL Encode and Decode

Percent-encode text for use in a URL, decode encoded strings, and see any URL broken into its base, query parameters and hash.

Input

Encoded

https%3A%2F%2Fapi.example.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcaf%C3%A9%20%26%20bar%26tags%3Da%2Cb%26redirect%3D%2Fhome%3Ftab%3D1

URL parts

basehttps://api.example.com/search
qcafé
bar(empty)
tagsa,b
redirect/home?tab=1

How to encode or decode a URL

  1. Step 1

    Choose a direction

    Pick Encode or Decode. For encoding, choose Query value or Full URL.

  2. Step 2

    Paste your text

    Paste the URL or value. The result updates as you type.

  3. Step 3

    Copy the result

    Copy the output, and check the URL parts table for each parameter.

Query value or full URL

Use Query value (encodeURIComponent) for a single parameter value: it also encodes &, =, ? and /, so the value cannot break the URL around it. Use Full URL (encodeURI) when you have a complete address and only want spaces and non-ASCII characters escaped.

Plus signs and spaces

HTML forms encode spaces as +, while most APIs use %20. The decoder treats both as a space.

Reading query strings

When the input is a full URL, the parts table lists every query parameter already decoded, which is quicker than reading a long tracking link by eye.

Questions and answers

What is percent-encoding?

It replaces characters that are not allowed in URLs with a % followed by two hex digits, so a space becomes %20 and é becomes %C3%A9.

Which encoding should I use for API parameters?

Query value. It escapes characters such as & and = that would otherwise split the parameter.

Is anything uploaded?

No. Encoding, decoding and parsing all run in your browser.

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