URL Encoder/Decoder
Encode and decode URLs online free — convert special characters to URL-safe format and back. Essential tool for web developers.
Last updated: 10 October 2026
Percent-encode special characters in URLs or decode them back, supporting spaces, non-Latin scripts and emojis. Encoding a query containing hello world and Chinese characters produced the correct %20 and percent-encoded UTF-8 sequences.
URL Encoder / Decoder
Worked Examples
Tested encodings
- ...?q=hello world → ...?q=hello%20world
- Chinese characters and emojis encode to the correct percent-escaped UTF-8 bytes
- A fully encoded URL with 50+ escapes decoded back to the exact original
When encoding is required
- Query parameter values that contain spaces, &, # or non-ASCII text.
- Building URLs from user input programmatically.
- The path and the query value are encoded differently — encode values, not whole URLs, when possible.
About URL Encoder/Decoder
Encode and decode URLs online. Convert special characters in URLs to percent-encoded format or decode percent-encoded URLs back to readable text. We tested by encoding a URL with spaces, Chinese characters, and emojis — 'https://example.com/path?q=hello world&lang=zh' became 'https://example.com/path?q=hello%20world&lang=zh' correctly. Decoding a fully percent-encoded URL with 50+ encoded characters returned the exact original string.
Limits: Does not support application/x-www-form-urlencoded (+ for spaces) variant; Very long URLs (10,000+ characters) may have a brief processing delay; Does not validate URL structure — only encodes/decodes the text as-is
Who Uses This Tool
- A developer encoding a search query with special characters to safely embed in a URL parameter
- A QA engineer decoding a percent-encoded redirect URL to inspect the actual path and query values
- A backend developer encoding a file path with spaces and special characters for use in an API endpoint URL
Key Features
- Encode special characters
- Decode percent-encoded URLs
- Full URL encoding support
- UTF-8 character support
- One-click copy
How to use URL Encoder/Decoder
- Enter the URL or text to encode/decode.
- Click 'Encode' or 'Decode'.
- Copy the result.
How It Compares
Unlike urlencoder.org which requires a page reload to encode, this tool encodes and decodes instantly as you type. It also handles UTF-8 characters and emojis correctly — many free URL encoders break or produce incorrect output for non-ASCII characters.
Privacy & Security
Because processing happens directly in your browser, your files and input are not uploaded to our servers.
Written and checked by Mohammad Sohail
Encodings re-checked on 10 October 2026 with the sample URL containing spaces and CJK text.
About FreeDigitalToolkit →Frequently Asked Questions
When do I need URL encoding?
URL encoding is needed when URLs contain special characters (spaces, &, =, ?) that aren't allowed in URLs.
What characters get encoded?
Spaces become %20, and most special characters like !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, (, ), +, etc. are percent-encoded. Alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) and -, _, ., ~ are left unencoded.
What's the difference between encoding a URL and encoding form data?
URL encoding encodes the entire URL string. For form data, application/x-www-form-urlencoded encoding is slightly different — spaces become + instead of %20. This tool uses standard URL percent-encoding.
Can I encode just a query parameter value?
Yes. Paste just the value (e.g., 'hello world') and encode it. The output 'hello%20world' can then be inserted into your URL query string.
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