What is URL encoding?

URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) converts characters that are not safe in a URL into a format browsers can transmit. Special characters like spaces become %20, ampersands become %26, and so on. This ensures URLs are valid and correctly parsed by servers and browsers.

When do I need to URL encode a string?

URL encode when passing user-supplied data as URL query parameters, building API request strings, embedding URLs inside other URLs, or storing URLs in HTML attributes. Characters like spaces, &, =, ?, #, and non-ASCII characters must be encoded to avoid breaking URL parsing.

URL Encoder / Decoder

Enter a URL or string to encode special characters to percent-encoding, or decode a percent-encoded string back to readable text. Essential for web development, API integration, and debugging.

URL Encoding Reference: Common Characters

Character	Encoded Form	Why It Must Be Encoded
Space	`%20`	Spaces are not valid in URLs
`&`	`%26`	Separates query parameters — must be encoded inside values
`=`	`%3D`	Separates keys from values in query strings
`?`	`%3F`	Starts the query string portion
`#`	`%23`	Denotes fragment identifier
`+`	`%2B`	Sometimes interpreted as a space in query strings
`/`	`%2F`	Path separator — must be encoded inside parameter values

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Frequently Asked Questions

URL encoding converts characters unsafe in a URL into percent-encoded form (e.g., spaces become %20). It ensures URLs are valid and correctly parsed by servers and browsers across all platforms.

URL encode whenever passing user-supplied data as query parameters, building API request strings, or embedding URLs inside other URLs. Characters like spaces, &, =, and # must be encoded to avoid breaking URL parsing.