URL Encoder, Decoder & Parser

About URL Encoder & Decoder

Percent-encoding (also called URL encoding) replaces characters that are not safe to include in a URL with a % sign followed by two hex digits. This tool encodes raw text using either encodeURI (preserves structural characters like / ? &) or encodeURIComponent (encodes everything except letters, digits, and - _ . ! ~ * ' ( )), and decodes percent-encoded strings back to their original form.

The Parse URL mode breaks any URL into its components — protocol, hostname, port, pathname, query string, and hash — and displays each query parameter as a separate key/value pair that can be copied as JSON. All operations run locally in the browser and no URLs you enter are transmitted anywhere.

Common Use Cases

• Encoding a search query or user-supplied string before appending it as a query parameter so special characters like &, =, and spaces don't break the URL structure.
• Decoding a percent-encoded URL from a server log, redirect destination, or OAuth callback to read the human-readable value.
• Parsing a complex API endpoint URL to extract and inspect all query parameters without manually splitting on & and =.
• Verifying that a webhook or redirect URL has been constructed correctly before sending it to a third-party service.

How to Use

1. Choose a mode: Encode to percent-encode text, Decode to reverse percent-encoding, or Parse URL to decompose a full URL.
2. In Encode mode, check encodeURIComponent if you are encoding a single query parameter value (rather than an entire URL).
3. In Parse URL mode, paste a full URL into the input field — components and query parameters are extracted and shown side by side.
4. Click Copy as JSON in the Parse URL view to copy all query parameters as a structured JSON object.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURI is designed to encode a complete URL and leaves structural characters such as : / ? # & = @ unencoded. encodeURIComponent encodes all of those characters too, making it the correct choice when encoding the value of a single query parameter — for example, a URL that is itself a parameter value.

Why does %20 appear instead of + for spaces in some URLs?

There are two conventions for encoding spaces in URLs: RFC 3986 uses %20, while the older application/x-www-form-urlencoded format (used in HTML forms) uses +. Modern APIs and browser fetch calls use %20. This tool always uses %20 for encoding, and decoding handles both representations.

Can I parse URLs without a scheme like http://?

Yes — if you paste a URL without a scheme (for example, api.example.com/v1/users?page=2), the parser automatically prepends https:// to make it parseable by the browser's URL API, so you still get all components correctly broken out.