What's the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURIComponent escapes every reserved URL character, including ?, &, =, /, +, and #. Use it for individual values you're embedding in a URL. encodeURI leaves those structural characters alone, so use it when the input is already a full, well-formed URL.

When do I need URL encoding?

Whenever a value contains a character with a reserved meaning in URLs (like '&', '=', '#', '?'), a space, or a non-ASCII character. Encoding swaps each problematic byte for a percent-escape (e.g. ' ' → '%20').

No. Encoding and decoding both happen in your browser using standard JavaScript APIs. Nothing leaves your device.

Why does my decoded text look wrong?

If the input was double-encoded (encoded twice), one decode pass will leave you with another encoded string. Click 'Use as input' to feed it back through the decoder again.

Developer Tools

URL Encode / Decode

URL encode and decode strings (percent-encoding). Picks encodeURIComponent or encodeURI. Parses URLs.

Input

Output

Files processed in your browser

Your files never leave your device. No upload, no servers.

About URL Encode / Decode

URL Encode / Decode applies percent-encoding to a string so it survives being placed inside a URL — and reverses the operation. Switch between Encode and Decode with one click; choose between encodeURIComponent (safe for individual query parameter values) and encodeURI (safe for full URLs that already contain valid path and query separators). Paste a URL and the tool also breaks it down into its protocol, host, pathname, and parsed query parameters. Encoding runs in your browser using the standard JavaScript URL primitives. Nothing is uploaded, logged, or stored, so it's safe for anything you'd be uncomfortable sending to a third-party server — debug strings from internal logs, customer-supplied search queries, deep links from production, or test URLs with sensitive parameters. The encodeURIComponent option is what you want most of the time: it escapes everything that isn't safe inside a single value, including the URL separators (?, &, =, /, +, #). Use encodeURI when you have an entire URL that's already structured correctly and you only want to escape the characters that are unsafe to leave raw — like spaces or non-ASCII characters in the path. Common uses include building a query string by hand, debugging why a URL parameter is being misinterpreted on the server, decoding tracking parameters from a marketing link to see what they actually contain, generating a clean URL after constructing it from user input, and inspecting redirect URLs from OAuth callbacks.

How URL Encode / Decode works

Paste a string or URL into the input field.
Pick mode: Encode for converting raw text to percent-encoded, Decode for the reverse.
Pick variant: encodeURIComponent for individual values (escapes &, =, ?, /, #), or encodeURI for full URLs.
If you paste a full URL, the parser also breaks it into protocol, host, pathname, and query parameters.
Copy the result with one click — and use 'Use as input' to chain operations (e.g. for double-encoded values).

When to use URL Encode / Decode

Build a query string by hand without worrying about which characters need to be escaped.
Debug a server-side bug where a URL parameter arrives garbled — decode to see what was actually sent.
Inspect tracking parameters in a marketing link (utm_source, utm_campaign, etc.) without clicking through.
Decode an OAuth callback URL to see what state, scope, and code values were returned.
Generate a clean, properly-encoded URL after constructing it from user input.
Convert spaces in a search query to %20 before pasting into a tool that doesn't auto-encode.

Why choose Utilix URL Encode / Decode

Both encodeURIComponent and encodeURI in one tool — picks the right semantics depending on whether you have a value or a full URL.
Built-in URL parser shows you exactly how a URL breaks down, so you don't paste it into 4 different tools.
Local-only — safe for URLs containing tokens, secrets, or PII in query parameters.
Round-trip your output back into the input with one click for handling double-encoding.
No signup, no ad walls, no daily limit.