What Is URL Encoding?

URLs can only contain certain safe characters (letters, digits, - _ . ~). Special characters like spaces, ampersands, and Unicode characters must be "percent-encoded" — replaced with a % followed by their hex code. A space becomes %20, and & becomes %26.

Why URL Encoding Matters

• Search queries with spaces: search?q=hello%20world
• Passing special characters in query strings
• Encoding Unicode characters for international URLs
• Preventing injection attacks via URL parameters

Common Encodings

• Space → %20
• & → %26
• = → %3D
• / → %2F
• ? → %3F
• # → %23

Encode or Decode Online

1. Open URL Encoder/Decoder.
2. Paste your URL or text.
3. Click Encode to convert to percent-encoding, or Decode to convert back to readable text.