Which characters are safe in URLs?

Unreserved characters that don't need encoding: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _, ., and ~.

Should I encode the entire URL or just the parameters?

Only encode the values within query parameters, not the entire URL. Encoding the full URL will also encode the : and // in the protocol, breaking it.

URL Encode & Decode — How to Use

What is URL Encoding?

URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Special characters like spaces, ampersands (&), equals signs (=) and accented letters must be converted to a safe format using percent-encoding: a % followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the character's byte value.

For example: hello world → hello%20world, and name=John & Smith → name%3DJohn%20%26%20Smith.

How to Use It

Open the tool

Go to Encode / Decode and scroll to the URL Encode / Decode section.

Choose mode

Select Encode to percent-encode special characters, or Decode to convert %XX sequences back to plain text.

Paste your input

Paste the string you want to encode (e.g. a query parameter value) or the encoded string you want to decode.

Copy the result

Copy the encoded or decoded output to use in your application or URL.

Common Use Cases

URL encoding is needed when building API request URLs with special characters in query parameters, encoding redirect URLs in OAuth flows, passing JSON in query strings, or debugging encoded form submissions. Decoding is useful when reading encoded URL parameters from server logs or analytics tools.

Pro Tips

💡Only encode the value part of a query parameter, not the full URL. Encoding https:// would break the protocol identifier.

💡In JavaScript: encodeURIComponent('hello world') returns 'hello%20world'. Use decodeURIComponent to reverse it.

💡The + sign means "space" only inside form data (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). In standard URL encoding, use %20 for spaces.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is percent-encoding?

A method of encoding special characters in URLs by replacing them with a % followed by two hexadecimal digits. Space → %20, & → %26, = → %3D.

Which characters don't need encoding?

Unreserved characters are safe without encoding: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _, . and ~.

What's the difference between %20 and + for spaces?

%20 is the standard percent-encoding for spaces. The + sign represents spaces only in application/x-www-form-urlencoded data (HTML form submissions). Use %20 in general URLs.

Should I encode the full URL?

No — only encode the values within query parameters. Encoding the full URL would also encode :// and / in the path, breaking the URL structure.

Ready to encode?

Open the URL Encoder and safely encode any string for use in URLs — no login, no limits.

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