Encode and decode individual URL components
Turn spaces, Unicode, and reserved characters into percent-encoded text, or restore percent escapes to their original value.
Ready when you are.
Your input stays in this tab. DevBox does not upload or save it.
Use percent encoding without breaking URL structure
Paste a query value, path segment or other component and choose Encode. The result protects characters that would otherwise be interpreted as URL syntax. Choose Decode to read an encoded component and catch malformed percent escapes.
This tool intentionally preserves literal plus signs. It follows URI-component behavior rather than the older HTML form convention that sometimes treats + as a space.
URL encoding questions
What does URL encoding do?
URL encoding replaces characters that have a special meaning in a URL with percent escapes. A space becomes %20, for example, so the value can be used safely as one URL component.
Should I encode a complete URL?
Usually no. Encode individual values such as a query parameter or path segment. Encoding the complete URL would also escape separators such as slashes, question marks and equals signs that give the URL its structure.
Does a plus sign decode to a space?
Not in this tool. A literal plus remains a plus because DevBox uses URI-component rules. HTML form encoding has a separate convention where plus may represent a space.
Why does URL decoding report an error?
Every percent sign must be followed by exactly two hexadecimal digits representing a byte. A truncated value such as %2 or a non-hexadecimal value such as %ZZ is not valid percent encoding.