URL Encoder & Decoder

Encode special characters with percent-encoding or decode URLs back to readable text — with strict RFC 3986 and query parameter breakdown.

Query String Breakdown

Paste a full URL above to inspect its parameters.

🔒 Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded or stored on a server.

The URL Encoder & Decoder converts characters into safe percent-encoded format for web addresses and query parameters, and reverses encoded URLs back into readable plain text. It handles component encoding, full URI encoding, form-data formatting and full UTF-8 Unicode characters without mangling accents or emoji.

Also on Txtset: encode and decode Base64 strings · percent-encode URLs and parameters.

Web servers and browsers require reserved characters in query strings (such as &, =, ?, /, and spaces) to be percent-encoded as ASCII hex pairs (like %20 for spaces and %26 for ampersands). Standard JavaScript encodeURIComponent omits sub-delimiters like !'()*; this tool offers a Strict RFC 3986 mode to ensure complete compatibility with strict API gateways and OAuth signers.

When you paste a full web address, the built-in Query String Breakdown inspects and decodes every query parameter into an organized table showing parameter keys and values clearly.

How to use

  1. Choose your operation: Encode or Decode.
  2. Select your target scope: 'Query value / Component' for parameter values, or 'Whole URL' to preserve address structure.
  3. Toggle 'Strict RFC 3986' or 'Form style' (+ for spaces) as needed.
  4. Type or paste your text or URL into the input area.
  5. Copy the processed output or review the parsed query string breakdown table below.

Examples

Encoding query parameter
Encoding “hello world & welcome” produces “hello%20world%20%26%20welcome”.
Strict OAuth encoding
Encoding “user(123)!” in strict RFC 3986 mode produces “user%28123%29%21” instead of leaving brackets unescaped.
Decoding search URL
Pasting “https://example.com/search?q=apple%2Bbanana&hl=en” decodes the query and lists q and hl in the parameters table.
Form data encoding
In application/x-www-form-urlencoded mode, spaces convert to “+” rather than “%20”.

Frequently asked questions

What is percent-encoding?
Percent-encoding replaces non-ASCII and reserved URL characters with a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the character's UTF-8 byte value.
What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?
encodeURI encodes a whole URL while preserving protocol and path separators (/:?&=#). encodeURIComponent encodes every reserved character, making text safe as a query parameter value.
Why is strict RFC 3986 mode needed?
Standard JavaScript encodeURIComponent does not escape !'()* characters. Some REST APIs, OAuth 1.0 signatures, and AWS SDKs strictly require them to be percent-encoded.
How does form encoding differ from standard URL encoding?
Standard URL encoding uses %20 for spaces. Form encoding (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) uses the plus sign (+) for spaces.
Is my URL or private token uploaded?
No. All encoding, decoding and URL parsing execute strictly in your local browser environment.

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