How to use the URL Encode / Decode
Last verified 2026-08-08 · about 5 minutes to read
The short version
- 1.Choose the scope. Component for a single value. Full URL only when you have an entire address that must stay navigable.
- 2.Paste your text. The result updates as you type.
- 3.Check the round trip. Switch the direction to decode and paste the result back. If you get your original text, the encoding is correct.
Why this is worth getting right
Three encoding modes, because the same input needs different treatment depending on where it lands. Component mode escapes reserved characters; full-URL mode preserves them so the address stays navigable; form mode encodes a space as a plus, which is only correct inside an application/x-www-form-urlencoded body. Most tools offer one mode and get the other two wrong.
Method 1 — use the URL Encode / Decode on this site
The fastest route. It runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and there is no queue to wait in. No account is needed and there is no daily limit.
- Choose the scope. Component for a single value. Full URL only when you have an entire address that must stay navigable.
- Paste your text. The result updates as you type.
- Check the round trip. Switch the direction to decode and paste the result back. If you get your original text, the encoding is correct.
Open the URL Encode / Decode →
Method 2 — do it without this site
Worth knowing, because a tool you cannot replace is a dependency rather than a convenience. Most tasks in the developer division have a command-line or built-in equivalent; it is usually more setup and less convenient, but it works offline and it is scriptable, which matters once you are doing something a hundred times instead of once.
What this tool will not do
Every tool has an edge. These are ours for url encode / decode, stated up front so you find out here rather than halfway through a deadline:
- Decoding requires well-formed input: a bare % that is not followed by two hex digits is an error, not a warning.
- Punycode for internationalised domain names is a separate conversion and is not applied here.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between component and full URL encoding?
Component encoding escapes every reserved character including : / ? # & and =, which is right for a single parameter value. Full URL encoding leaves those alone so the address still works. Encoding a whole URL in component mode produces a string no browser can follow.
When should a space become + instead of %20?
Only in application/x-www-form-urlencoded bodies — that is, classic HTML form submissions. Everywhere else in a URL, a space is %20. The plus convention is a form-encoding rule that predates the URL specification and does not generalise.
Why does my decode fail with "URI malformed"?
A percent sign in the input is not followed by two valid hex digits. It usually means the text was already decoded once, or contains a literal % that was never escaped. Encode the literal % as %25 before decoding.
Does this handle non-English characters?
Yes. Non-ASCII characters are converted to UTF-8 bytes and each byte is percent-encoded, which is what RFC 3986 specifies. Bangla, Arabic, CJK and emoji all round-trip exactly.
Is it safe to paste a URL containing a token?
Yes. Everything runs in this browser tab and nothing is transmitted. That is deliberate — signed URLs and OAuth callbacks are among the most common things people need to decode.