URL decode online
What URL decoding does
URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Everything else, spaces, accents, emoji and reserved symbols like & or / inside a value, is written as a percent sign followed by two hex digits. This is called percent-encoding or URL encoding and is defined in RFC 3986.
URL decoding reverses it. caf%C3%A9%20cr%C3%A8me becomes café crème, and https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fpage becomes https://example.com/page. Use this online URL decoder to read tracking links, redirect parameters, server logs, analytics reports and API requests.
Common encoded characters
| Encoded | Character | Encoded | Character |
|---|
%20 | space | %2F | / slash |
%3A | : colon | %3F | ? question mark |
%26 | & ampersand | %3D | = equals |
%23 | # hash | %25 | % percent |
%2B | + plus | %40 | @ at sign |
Accented and non-Latin letters are encoded as several UTF-8 bytes, so é becomes %C3%A9 and a single emoji can become 12 characters.
Double encoding
Fix double-encoded URLs and + signs
A URL that has been encoded twice shows %25 where the percent signs were: %252F instead of %2F. This happens when a link passes through a redirect, an email tracker or an ad platform that encodes it again. Tick Decode fully and the tool repeats the decode until nothing changes, then tells you how many layers it removed.
The + sign is the other common trap. In HTML form submissions and most query strings (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), a space is written as +. In URL paths, a + is a literal plus. Choose the Form style when decoding query strings from forms or search pages so red+shoes becomes red shoes. The tool warns you when it sees + signs under the Component style.
Links copied from HTML source may also contain entities like &. Tick Also decode HTML entities to clean both layers at once.
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URL encode
How to URL encode text and links
Choose URL encode when you need to put text into a URL safely, for example a search term, a redirect target or a value with & in it. Pick the style that matches where the value goes:
- Component encodes everything except
A-Z a-z 0-9 - . _ ~. Use it for a single path segment or query value. It matches JavaScript encodeURIComponent() and PHP rawurlencode().
- Form is the same but writes spaces as
+, like HTML forms and PHP urlencode().
- Full URL only encodes characters that are never allowed in a URL, such as spaces and accented letters, and leaves
:/?#&= alone. It is the closest match to encodeURI().
- Encode every character turns even letters into
%XX, which is useful for testing how a server handles encoding.
The Build query string tab takes key=value lines and joins them into a correctly encoded ?a=1&b=2 string, optionally appended to a base URL. For marketing links with UTM tags, the UTM builder does this in bulk.
Parse URL
Parse a URL into its parts
The Parse URL tab splits each URL into scheme, user, host, port, path, query string and fragment, then lists every query parameter with its decoded value. It is the fastest way to see what a long tracking link really contains or to check which parameter carries a redirect target.
Encoding is not the same as Base64. If a value looks like random letters and digits ending in =, it is probably Base64: use the Base64 decoder. If it is JSON after decoding, format it with the JSON formatter.
Examples
Quick encoding examples
hello world becomes hello%20world (component) or hello+world (form). a&b=c becomes a%26b%3Dc, so it can sit safely inside a query value. https://example.com/?q=1 placed inside another URL becomes https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2F%3Fq%3D1.
FAQ
URL Decode & Encode: frequently asked questions
What does URL decode mean?
URL decoding converts percent-encoded sequences such as %20, %2F and %C3%A9 back into the original characters: a space, a slash and é. It makes encoded links readable.
How do I decode a URL online?
Paste the URL or encoded text into the URL decode tab and click Convert. Tick Each line separately to decode a list, and Decode fully if the link was encoded more than once.
What is %2F in a URL?
%2F is the encoded form of a forward slash (/). It appears when a full URL is placed inside another URL, for example as a redirect parameter.
What is the difference between %20 and + for spaces?
Both mean a space in a query string from an HTML form. In URL paths, only %20 means a space and + is a literal plus sign. Use the Form style for form data and the Component style for paths and API values.
How do I fix a double-encoded URL?
Tick Decode fully. The tool decodes repeatedly until the text stops changing, so %252F becomes %2F and then /.
Which encoding style should I use to encode a URL?
Use Component for a single value inside a URL, Form for HTML form or query-string data, and Full URL when you have a whole link with spaces or accented characters that must stay clickable.
Can I decode Base64 here?
No, Base64 is a different encoding. Use the Base64 decode tool for strings made of letters, digits, +, / and =.
Is my data stored?
No. Input is processed in memory for one request and is not saved or logged.