Free URL encoder and decoder guide. Learn what URL encoding is, why spaces become %20, and how to encode or decode URLs for APIs and web development.
You've seen URLs with strange percent signs and numbers - %20 for spaces, %3F for question marks, %26 for ampersands. That's URL encoding (also called percent encoding), and it's how browsers safely transmit special characters in URLs.
Why URLs Need Encoding
URLs have a restricted character set. Letters, numbers, and a few special characters (-, _, ., ~) are safe. Everything else - spaces, punctuation, non-ASCII characters - must be encoded. Without encoding, a URL containing a space or ampersand would break because those characters have special meaning in URLs.
Our URL Encoder and URL Decoder make this conversion instant.
Common Situations
- Building API requests - Query parameters with special characters need encoding
- Debugging redirects - Decode a mangled URL to see the real destination
- Creating shareable links - Ensure your URLs work in all email clients and messaging apps
- Web scraping - Understand and reconstruct encoded URLs from page sources
Test it: paste a URL with spaces and see how it converts to %20 equivalents.