---
title: "URL encoder and decoder — free, runs in your browser"
description: "Percent-encode text for use in a URL, or decode it back. Free, no sign-up, and nothing you enter leaves your browser."
url: https://atoneplace.net/tools/url-encoder/
site: "At One Place"
---

# URL encoder and decoder

Percent-encode text for use in a URL, or decode it back.

## How it works

Percent-encodes text so it can travel safely in a URL, or decodes it back to readable form.

Two encodings are offered because they are not the same. Component encoding escapes everything that has meaning in a URL, including & = ? # and /, and is what you want for a single query-string value. Full-URI encoding leaves those structural characters alone, and is what you want when encoding a whole URL that must stay a working URL.

Using the wrong one is the usual cause of a link that breaks at the first ampersand: encoding a whole URL with component encoding turns its own separators into %26 and %3D, and the result is no longer parseable as a URL.

> This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server, logged or stored, and the page keeps working with the network disconnected.

## Common questions

### What is the difference between the two encode modes?

Component encoding escapes URL-structural characters like & = ? and /, for use inside a single parameter. Full-URI encoding leaves them intact so a complete URL stays valid.

### Why does %20 appear instead of a space?

Space is not legal in a URL, so it is percent-encoded as %20. In query strings a plus sign is also sometimes used for the same purpose.

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