URL Encoder / Decoder
Encode special characters in URLs for safe transmission, or decode percent-encoded strings.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why do I need to encode URLs?
URLs can only contain a limited set of characters (ASCII letters, digits, and some special characters like -, _, ., ~). Special characters, spaces, and non-ASCII characters must be percent-encoded (e.g., space becomes %20) to ensure the URL works correctly across different systems and browsers.
2. What is percent encoding?
Percent encoding (also called URL encoding) replaces unsafe characters with a "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the character's ASCII value. For example: space becomes "%20", "?" becomes "%3F", and "&" becomes "%26".
3. Should I encode the full URL or individual parts?
It depends on the context. Query parameters (after the ?) and fragments (after #) typically need full encoding. However, domain names should generally NOT be encoded (e.g., "example.com" stays as is, not "example%2Ecom"). Our tool encodes the entire input string using encodeURIComponent().
4. What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?
encodeURI() preserves characters that are valid in a complete URI but encodes others. encodeURIComponent() encodes everything except ASCII alphanumeric characters, -, _, ., !, ~, *, ', (, ). Use encodeURIComponent() for individual parameter values, and encodeURI() for complete URLs.