URL Encoder and Decoder
Percent-encode a value for a URL, or decode an encoded URL back to readable text. Component encoding, both directions, live.
Type in either box — the other one updates as you go.
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About URL Encoder and Decoder
Confileo's URL Encoder and Decoder tool percent-encodes text for use in a URL and decodes encoded URLs back to readable text. Everything runs in your browser, free and without signup, and your files are deleted automatically after processing.
A URL is allowed a surprisingly small set of characters, and everything else has to be escaped before it can travel. Spaces are the obvious case, but the ones that cause real damage are the characters that already mean something inside an address: an ampersand ends a query parameter, a question mark starts the query string, a hash starts the fragment, a plus can mean a space, and a slash separates path segments. Put any of those inside a value without escaping and the URL still looks fine while quietly meaning something different.
Percent-encoding is the fix and the name describes it exactly: the offending character is replaced by a percent sign and the two hexadecimal digits of its byte. A space becomes %20, an ampersand becomes %26. Characters outside ASCII are encoded as their UTF-8 bytes, so a single Arabic or accented letter becomes two or three percent groups — which is why an encoded non-English URL looks so much longer than the text it came from.
There are two different encoding functions in every language and picking the wrong one is the most common mistake this page gets used to undo. One of them is meant for a complete address and therefore leaves the structural characters — ampersand, question mark, equals, slash, plus — untouched, on the assumption that you meant them. The other escapes everything that is not unreserved, which is what a single parameter VALUE needs. This page does the second, because that is what somebody searching for a URL encoder is nearly always trying to do: make a value safe to drop into a query string or a redirect parameter.
The plus sign deserves its own warning because it behaves differently depending on where it sits. In classic HTML form submission a space is encoded as a plus rather than %20, so decoders have to treat a bare plus in a query string as a space — and that means a genuine plus character in an email address or a phone number must be encoded as %2B or it will silently turn into a blank. The decode pane here follows the form convention, so pasting a query string gives you back what a server would actually receive.
Decoding is where these tools usually break in an obvious way. A truncated escape like %E4, or a stray percent sign in ordinary prose, makes the standard decoder throw an error, and the page goes blank while you are still typing. Here the valid escapes are resolved and anything malformed is left visible in place, so a half-pasted URL shows you how far it got instead of nothing at all.
Both panes are live and drive each other. The conversion happens entirely in your browser — nothing you paste leaves the page, which matters when the URL you are debugging carries a session token or a signed parameter.
Quick facts
- Price
- Free — no paywall
- Signup
- Not required
- Max file size
- Up to 100 MB per file
- Your files
- Deleted automatically after processing
- Works on
- Any browser — desktop, tablet, mobile
- Watermark
- None on your output
How to use URL Encoder and Decoder
- 1Paste the value or URL you want encoded on the left, or an encoded string on the right.
- 2Both panes update live, so you can work in whichever direction you arrived in.
- 3Copy the side you need.
Why use Confileo
- ✓100% free with no daily limits, watermarks or hidden paywalls.
- ✓No signup or account required — start using it instantly.
- ✓Your files are processed securely and deleted automatically for full privacy.
- ✓Works in any browser on desktop, tablet and mobile — nothing to install.
- ✓Fast processing built to handle real, everyday document workloads.
URL Encoder and Decoder — Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?
encodeURI assumes you are handing it a whole address, so it deliberately leaves the structural characters — ampersand, question mark, equals, slash, plus — alone. encodeURIComponent escapes them, which is what a single parameter VALUE needs. Using the first on a value is how a URL silently breaks when the value contains an ampersand. This page does component encoding, which is what a URL encoder is almost always wanted for.
Why is a space sometimes %20 and sometimes a plus?
Classic HTML form submission encodes a space as a plus sign; the URI standard uses %20. Both are current, which is why a genuine plus character has to be written as %2B — otherwise a decoder treats it as a space and quietly destroys email addresses and phone numbers. The decode pane here follows the form convention, so pasting a query string shows what a server actually receives.
Why does one Arabic or accented letter become several percent groups?
Percent-encoding escapes bytes, not characters, and characters outside ASCII take more than one byte in UTF-8 — usually two for Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic and accented Latin, three for most CJK, four for an emoji. Each of those bytes gets its own percent group, which is why an encoded non-English URL is several times longer than the text it came from.
Why do other decoders go blank when I paste a partial URL?
A truncated escape such as %E4, or a stray percent sign, makes the standard decoder throw an error, and most pages show nothing when it does. Here the valid escapes are resolved and anything malformed is left in place, so you can see exactly how far a broken URL parses.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. Every Confileo tool is free to use with no daily caps, no watermark on your output and no credit card required.
Do I need to create an account?
No. You can use the tool straight away without signing up or logging in.
Are my files safe and private?
Yes. Your files are processed for the task you requested and then deleted automatically — they are never shared or kept.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. The tool runs in any modern browser, so it works the same on desktop, tablet and mobile with nothing to install.