Free URL Encoder & Decoder — Encode Special Characters for URLs

Special characters in URLs — spaces, ampersands, quotes, Unicode — need to be percent-encoded to be safe. The Tools.Town URL Encoder makes it instant.

Encode: Paste a URL component (or full URL) and get the percent-encoded version. Handles spaces (%20), & (%26), emoji, and multi-byte Unicode characters.

Decode: Paste a percent-encoded string and get the human-readable version. Useful for reading redirect logs, debug API calls, and decoding query parameters.

Two modes:

• Component — encodes everything including / and ? (for query param values)
• Full URL — preserves structural characters (for encoding a complete URL)

Runs fully in-browser. Nothing is sent to a server.

Not sure which mode to pick? Our URL Encoder guide explains encodeURIComponent vs encodeURI and the bugs proper encoding prevents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is URL encoding? URL encoding replaces unsafe characters with a % sign followed by two hex digits. For example, spaces become %20, and & becomes %26.

When do I need to URL-encode? When including user-supplied text in query parameters, form submissions, redirect URLs, or API calls where special characters would break the URL structure.

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent? encodeURI encodes a full URL, preserving structural characters like /, ?, and &. encodeURIComponent encodes a component (e.g. a query param value), treating those characters as unsafe.

Try it now — Open Url Encoder — no signup required.