URL encoder and decoder
Decode %20-style links, encode text for URLs, and see every query parameter.
URL breakdown
How to use it
- Paste a link or text into the box on the left.
- Choose Decode to turn
%20,%3Aand friends back into readable text, or Encode to make text safe to put in a URL. - When the input is a full link, the breakdown lists its host, path and every query parameter, already decoded — handy for checking UTM tags.
- Use Swap to feed the result back in, for example to check that encoding round-trips.
Questions
What is URL encoding?
URLs can only contain a limited set of characters. Everything else — spaces, accents, emoji, and characters with special meaning like & and ? — is written as a % followed by the character's bytes in hexadecimal. A space becomes %20, for example.
Should a + be a space?
In query strings and form data, yes: + means a space. In a path, + is a literal plus sign. Untick “Treat + as a space” when decoding paths.
Which encoding should I use?
For a single value going into a query string or path segment, use “Query value or path segment”. Use “Whole URL” only to clean up a complete address that has spaces or accents in it — it leaves : / ? & = alone.
What is double encoding?
When already-encoded text gets encoded again, %20 becomes %2520. Tick “Decode repeatedly” and the tool keeps decoding until nothing changes, and tells you how many layers it removed.