Percent-Encoding & Decoding

URL Encode & Decode Online

Safely encode special characters for query parameters or decode percent-encoded strings. Supports full URL encoding, component encoding, RFC 3986 strict format, and live preview.

Mode:

Live Conversion

Input String / URL0 chars (0 bytes)

Result Output0 chars (0 bytes)

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding, formally known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for safely transmitting data via Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). The internet strictly limits the characters that can be used in a URL to a subset of the ASCII character set. Any character outside this permitted range—including spaces, emojis, non-Latin scripts, and certain symbols—must be translated into a valid format before the URL can be transmitted over the internet.

This conversion is crucial because characters like ?, =, and & have special meanings in web addresses (they delimit queries and parameters). If your form data or query parameter naturally contains an ampersand, it will break the URL structure unless it is percent-encoded as %26. Encoding ensures that web servers and browsers correctly interpret the data without confusing it for structural URL components.

The standard governing this process is defined in RFC 3986, which specifies exactly which characters are safe ("unreserved") and which must be encoded. Functions like JavaScript's encodeURIComponent are commonly used by developers to safely encode these special characters.

When you use SnipTools for URL encoding, you benefit from strict privacy. All encoding and decoding operations are executed entirely client-side within your browser. Your potentially sensitive query parameters and URL strings are never sent to or logged by any external server.

How to Use the URL Encoder & Decoder

Paste Your String

Type or paste any URL, query parameter, or text containing special characters into the input box.

Select Encoding Mode

Choose URI Component (encodes all delimiters), Full URL (preserves http/path structure), or RFC 3986 Strict.

Encode or Decode

Click "Encode" to escape characters or "Decode" to convert %20 back to readable spaces. Live mode works automatically!

Copy Result

Click "Copy Output" or press Ctrl+Shift+C to copy the output directly to your system clipboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about percent-encoding, RFC standards, and security.

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURI is meant for complete URLs and preserves protocol, domain, and query delimiters like 'http://', '?', '=', and '&'. encodeURIComponent is meant for individual parameter values and encodes all special characters including '/', '?', '=', '&', and '#'.

Why do special characters need to be URL encoded?

URLs can only safely contain standard ASCII characters. Special characters like spaces, non-Latin characters, ampersands, or slashes must be converted into valid percent-encoded formats (like %20 for space or %26 for &) so web servers and web browsers interpret query parameters correctly without breaking.

Is live URL encoding private and secure on SnipTools?

Yes, 100%. All URL encoding and decoding operations happen locally inside your browser using JavaScript's native string methods. No inputs or URLs are ever logged or transmitted to any server.

What causes a 'URI Malformed' error during URL decoding?

A 'URI Malformed' error occurs when a percent sign (%) is followed by invalid hexadecimal characters (e.g. %ZZ) or incomplete UTF-8 byte sequences. SnipTools safely catches this error and highlights the invalid percent sequence for you.