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URL Encoder & Decoder: Clean Your Web Links Instantly

URL Encoder & Decoder

Convert special characters in URLs to a web-safe format or decode percent-encoded strings.

Input / Output Area

The Importance of URL Encoding for Web Accessibility

URLs are only allowed to contain a small set of characters from the US-ASCII set. Learn why encoding is the "safety net" of the internet.

Prevent Broken Links

Spaces and symbols like '#' or '&' can break a link if not properly encoded, leading to 404 errors and poor user experience.

Global Compatibility

Encoding ensures that non-English characters and international symbols are transmitted correctly across all global servers.

SEO Query Tracking

Safely include search terms and parameters in your URLs to ensure Google Analytics tracks your traffic sources with 100% accuracy.

What is URL Encoding (Percent-Encoding)?

URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). [Image showing a space character ' ' becoming '%20'] Characters that are not allowed in a URL are replaced by a percent sign (%) followed by their two-digit hexadecimal equivalent. This ensures that the data within the URL doesn't interfere with the protocol's syntax.

Common Reserved Characters

Certain characters have special meanings in a URL. For example, the ? starts a query string, and & separates parameters. If your actual data contains these symbols, they must be encoded:

  • Space: Becomes %20 or +
  • Ampersand (&): Becomes %26
  • Forward Slash (/): Becomes %2F
  • At Sign (@): Becomes %40

Practical Applications in 2026

In 2026, as APIs and complex web applications continue to dominate, **Dynamic URL Encoding** is vital for passing JSON data through a URL or handling multi-language search queries. It is also a key step in preventing certain types of injection attacks, making it a basic necessity for both developers and digital marketers.

URL Encoding FAQ

While search engines can handle encoded URLs, for "slugs," it is better to use clean text with hyphens. However, for tracking parameters (like UTM tags), encoding is mandatory to ensure the data is captured correctly.

encodeURI is used for the entire URL and keeps symbols like "/" and "?" intact. encodeURIComponent (which this tool uses for maximum safety) encodes every special character, making it safe for data parameters.