Free URL Encoder & Decoder – Encode or Decode URLs Online

Search Engine Optimization

URL Encoder / Decoder

Enter the text that you wish to encode or decode:



About URL Encoder / Decoder

Decode URL and encode it online.

You can use the above online tool to encode or decode a string of text. URIs need to be encoded in the same manner for worldwide interoperability. In order to represent the vast set of characters that exist in the world in the 60 or so characters that are permissible in a URI, two steps are taken:

Use the UTF-8 encoding to convert the character string to a sequence of bytes.

Convert each byte that is not an ASCII letter or digit to %HH, where HH is the hexadecimal value of the byte

So this string François would become: Fran%C3%A7ois

URL Encoding and Decoding

This web page URL Encodes or Decodes a string. When creating a query string containing text, you need to use URL Encoding to make sure that the text is not interpreted as part of the URL. It is usually employed when the browser posts form data to a Web server. Percent-encoding, commonly referred to as URL encoding, is a way to encode data in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), in certain cases. Although it is known as URL encoding it is, in fact, used more generally within the main Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) set, which includes both Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and Uniform Resource Name (URN). For this reason it is also applied in the preparation of data of media type “application/x-www-form-urlencoded” which is commonly used in the submission of HTML form data in a HTTP request.

When would you want to use URL Encoding?

Data that were entered in HTML forms are sent, the form field values and names are encoded and move to the server in an http request message, using POST or GET method, or, historically, by email. The default encoding used is actually based on an early draft of the general URI percent encoding guidelines, with a few changes, such as normalization of newlines and substitution of spaces with + instead of %20. The MIME data type is in this form x-www-form-URL encoded, and is currently specified in the X-Forms and HTML specifications. Furthermore, the CGI specification has rules on how the data of this kind is to be decoded by the server and made accessible to Apps. The x-www-form-URL encoded data is in the query part of the requested web URL, when sent in an HTTP GET request. While sent in POST HTTP request or via email, the information is located in the message body, and the name of the media type is involved in Content-Type header of the message.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is URL Encoding?

URL Encoding is a process that converts characters into a format that can be safely used inside a URL.

2. What is URL Decoding?

URL Decoding converts an encoded URL or string back into its original readable form.

3. Is the URL Encoder and Decoder free?

Yes, this online URL Encoder and Decoder tool is free to use.

4. Why do URLs need to be encoded?

URLs have a limited set of characters that can be used directly. URL encoding allows special and non-ASCII characters to be represented safely.

5. What encoding standard is commonly used for URLs?

UTF-8 is commonly used to represent characters before they are percent-encoded in URLs.

6. What does percent-encoding mean?

Percent-encoding represents a byte using a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal characters, such as %20.

7. What does %20 mean in a URL?

%20 represents a space character in percent-encoded URL data.

8. What does %C3%A7 represent?

In UTF-8 percent-encoding, %C3%A7 represents the character ç.

9. Can I encode special characters with this tool?

Yes, a URL Encoder can convert special characters into their appropriate encoded representation.

10. Can I decode an encoded URL?

Yes. Enter the encoded URL or string into the decoder to convert it back into a readable format.

11. When is URL encoding commonly used?

URL encoding is commonly used when transmitting text and form data through URLs, query strings, and HTTP requests.

12. Is URL encoding the same as encryption?

No. URL encoding is not encryption. It changes the representation of data so it can be safely transmitted or included in a URI.

13. Can URL encoding be used with HTML form data?

Yes. URL-encoded form data is commonly used when submitting HTML form information through HTTP requests.

14. What is UTF-8 in URL encoding?

UTF-8 is a character encoding system that converts characters into bytes. Those bytes can then be percent-encoded when necessary for use in a URI.

15. Who can use an online URL Encoder and Decoder?

Developers, SEO professionals, web designers, students, and anyone working with URLs, query strings, HTTP requests, or encoded text can use the tool.