What this tool is good for
URL encoding turns spaces, non-ASCII characters, plus signs, slashes, question marks, and other special characters into a format that browsers and servers can pass around safely. URL decoding reverses the process so you can inspect the original text.
Typical use cases
- Safely append search terms, Chinese text, or filter values to a query string.
- Inspect encoded callback URLs, redirect targets, and parameters inside API requests.
- Recover the original text from logs, browser address bars, or gateway configuration values.
- Use it together with Base64 Encode/Decode and Unicode Encode/Decode when debugging layered string transformations.
How to use it
- Paste the original text into the left panel to generate the encoded result immediately.
- Paste an encoded string into the right panel to decode it back to text.
- If decoding fails, first check for incomplete
%escape sequences.
Example
Original text: a+b c/中文
Encoded result: a%2Bb%20c%2F%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87
This kind of encoded output is common in query parameters and redirect URLs, and decoding it restores the original text.
Common mistakes
- Most of the time you should encode parameter values, not the entire URL.
- Double-encoding breaks otherwise valid parameters because the server no longer sees the expected value.
- Strings with spaces or non-ASCII characters are especially likely to break when copied directly into logs, gateways, or address bars without encoding.
FAQ
When should I URL-encode a value?
Whenever a parameter contains spaces, non-ASCII text, plus signs, slashes, question marks, hashes, or other special characters, URL-encoding is usually the safe choice.
Should I encode the whole URL or just parameter values?
In most cases you should encode only the parameter values. Encoding the entire URL also escapes structural characters such as the scheme, path separators, and question mark.
Why do some systems show spaces as plus signs instead of %20?
That usually comes from form-encoding rules. This tool follows general URL component encoding rules, so spaces become %20.
Why does decoding say the input is not valid URL-encoded text?
That usually means the input contains incomplete percent-escape fragments or invalid characters. Verify the original source and copy the full encoded string again.
Related tools
If you need to debug lower-level string or encoding issues next, these related tools are useful:
- Base64 Encode/Decode：Encode strings to Base64 and decode Base64 back to text
- Unicode Encode/Decode：Encode and decode Unicode escape sequences online
- Text Encoding Converter：Convert between UTF-8, UTF-16LE, UCS-2, Latin1, Base64, ASCII, hex, and byte arrays