URL Encoder / Decoder

The URL Encoder / Decoder percent-encodes and decodes URL components, which is exactly what you need when a value contains spaces or reserved characters such as question marks, hashes, or ampersands. Encoding makes the value safe to put inside a query string or path segment; decoding restores the original text so you can read it. The tool encodes the full URL or just a component, and switches between application/x-www-form-urlencoded and the more forgiving URI form. It is useful when debugging links, building query strings by hand, or reproducing a request that kept failing because of unencoded characters. A URL has reserved characters that carry structural meaning, so the same symbol can be either data or syntax depending on where it appears. A question mark starts the query, an ampersand separates parameters, a hash begins the fragment, and a space is not allowed at all. Percent encoding is how a value that contains any of those characters is made safe: it is rewritten as a percent sign followed by the byte value, which the receiver decodes back to the original text. Doing that by hand is error prone, and a single unencoded ampersand inside a value silently splits it into two parameters, which is the kind of bug that looks like a mystery missing field rather than a typo. The two modes cover the common situations: form encoding for request bodies, where a space becomes a plus sign, and the looser URI form for paths and fragments, where some symbols may remain literal. It is worth encoding each component right after you write it so the link stays correct when it is copied, shared, or pasted into a configuration file.