How to encode or decode a URL
- Choose Encode or Decode.
- Pick parameter value for a single value or whole URL for a complete address.
- Paste the text and copy the result. Full URLs are also split into their parts.
Reserved and unsafe characters
Characters like ? & = # / have special meaning in a URL. If a value contains them, they must be encoded or the URL will be split in the wrong place, for example a search term with & in it.
Encoding in code
JavaScript: encodeURIComponent for values and URLSearchParams to build query strings. Python: urllib.parse.quote and urlencode. Encode each value once; double encoding turns % into %25.
Reading tracking links
Marketing links carry parameters such as utm_source and utm_campaign. The parts view lists every parameter decoded, which makes long redirect and tracking URLs easy to inspect.
Frequently asked questions
What is URL encoding?
Characters that are not allowed in URLs, like spaces, non-English letters and &, are written as % followed by their UTF-8 bytes in hex. A space becomes %20.
Why does + turn into a space?
In form submissions and query strings, + traditionally means a space. The decoder treats it that way.
encodeURI or encodeURIComponent?
encodeURIComponent encodes / ? & = too, so it is right for values. encodeURI keeps them, so it is right for a whole URL.
Can it handle Korean, Japanese or emoji?
Yes. Text is encoded as UTF-8, which every modern browser and server understands.