URL Encoder/Decoder – Encode or Decode URLs Online Free
About the URL Encoder/Decoder
The URL Encoder/Decoder converts text and URLs into percent-encoded format, or decodes already-encoded URLs back into readable text. Paste your input, switch between Encode and Decode mode, and get an instant, properly formatted result — useful for handling special characters, spaces, and non-ASCII text in URLs.
This tool is built for developers, SEOs, and website owners who work with query strings, API requests, or international URLs containing accented or non-Latin characters. With options to control which characters get encoded, preserve safe symbols, and convert from different source character sets, it handles both simple and advanced encoding needs. If you’re working with marketing links, you can also build campaign URLs using our UTM Builder or clean existing tracking parameters with the UTM Parameter Cleaner.
Our team tested the encoder and decoder with URLs containing spaces, Unicode characters, query strings, and special symbols to ensure the output is encoded and decoded correctly.
How to Use the URL Encoder/Decoder
- Paste your text or URL into the Input Text or URL box.
- Choose a mode: Encode URL or Decode URL.
- For encoding, enable Encode Component to encode everything, including
:// ? =. - Enable Preserve safe characters to keep symbols like
- _ . ! ~ * ' ( )unencoded. - Select a Source Character Set if your input uses a specific encoding other than UTF-8.
- Click Process to generate the result.
- Click Copy, Download .txt, or Export .csv to save the output.
Example Usage
If you’re checking several encoded links, you can compare the original and processed versions with our Text Diff Checker.
Input: https://example.com/search?q=hello world&city=münchen
Encoded Output:
https://example.com/search?q=hello%20world&city=m%C3%BCnchen
Decoded back:
https://example.com/search?q=hello world&city=münchen
Encoding converts spaces and special characters like accented letters into percent-encoded sequences that browsers and servers can safely process in a URL.
Frequently Asked Questions
URL encoding converts characters that aren’t allowed in a URL — like spaces, accented letters, or symbols — into a percent-encoded format (e.g. %20 for a space) so URLs remain valid and functional.
“Encode Component” encodes every special character, including URL structure symbols like :// ? and =, similar to JavaScript’s encodeURIComponent(). Regular encoding preserves those structural characters so full URLs remain functional.
It keeps certain characters like – _ . ! ~ * ‘ ( ) unencoded, since these are considered safe in URLs and don’t need percent-encoding.
Yes, the decoder automatically detects and reverses multiple layers of encoding, up to several passes, until no further decoding changes the result.
Only if your text uses a non-UTF-8 encoding. Most modern text is UTF-8 by default, so you can leave the charset setting as is unless you’re working with legacy or region-specific encodings.
Yes, this tool is completely free with no signup required.
