DocomintURL Encoder / Decoder Online
URLs can only safely contain a limited set of characters — letters, numbers, and a handful of punctuation marks. Everything else (spaces, ampersands inside a value, non-Latin characters, emoji) has to be percent-encoded before it can travel in a URL without breaking it. A URL encoder/decoder converts between the readable text and its encoded form, instantly, in either direction.
What percent-encoding actually looks like
A space becomes %20. An ampersand becomes %26. A query string like ?q=hello world & more has to become ?q=hello%20world%20%26%20morebefore it's a valid URL — otherwise the raw space and& would be interpreted as breaking the URL into pieces it was never meant to have.
Where this actually bites people
- Building a query string by hand and having it silently truncate at the first unescaped
&or space. - Passing a URL as a parameter of another URL (a redirect target, for instance) and needing it fully encoded so the outer URL parses correctly.
- Debugging why a link with special characters — accented letters, emoji, quotes — doesn't open the way you expect.
- Reading a server log or browser address bar where every space and symbol in a query string is shown as
%XXand you just want to see what it says.
Encoding vs. decoding
Building a URL from parts you control (a search term, a filename with spaces) means encoding— text in, safe URL characters out. Reading an existing URL that's already full of %XX sequences means decoding — turning it back into something readable.
How to encode or decode a URL
- Open the URL Encoder/Decoder.
- Paste your text or URL.
- Pick encode or decode.
- Copy the result — the conversion happens instantly in your browser.
Related developer tools
If the value you're encoding needs to travel as binary rather than text — embedding an image or file in a URL, for example — that's a job for Base64 Encoder/Decoderinstead. And once you've decoded a query string back into readable parameters, pasting the underlying payload into the JSON Formattermakes it easier to read if it's structured data.
Frequently asked questions
What characters actually need to be percent-encoded?
Anything outside letters, numbers, and a small set of punctuation — spaces, ampersands, quotes, non-Latin characters, and emoji all need encoding before they're safe inside a URL.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No — encoding and decoding both run entirely in your browser.
Can I decode a URL that's already percent-encoded?
Yes — paste the encoded URL and decode it to see the readable version underneath.
Does this handle non-Latin characters and emoji?
Yes — any character outside the safe URL set, including accented letters and emoji, encodes and decodes correctly.
Why did my link break when it had a space or special character in it?
Unescaped spaces and reserved characters (like &, #, ?) can be misread as breaking the URL into pieces. Encoding them first keeps the URL intact.