Tutorial·
How to Encode and Decode URLs
Understand percent-encoding and use the URL Encoder/Decoder tool to fix malformed URLs and query strings.
Common Problem
You copy a URL from an email or document and it contains spaces or special characters. Pasting it into a browser or API client breaks the request.
Step 1: Identify the Problem
Characters that break URLs: space, &, =, #, %, +, non-ASCII.
Example broken query: ?name=John Smith&city=São Paulo
Step 2: Open the Tool
Go to /tools/url-encoder-decoder.
Step 3: Encode
Paste your string and click Encode. Output:
?name=John%20Smith&city=S%C3%A3o%20Paulo
Step 4: Decode
Paste a percent-encoded string and click Decode to read it:
%2Fapi%2Fusers%3Ffilter%3Dactive → /api/users?filter=active
Full URL vs Component
Use Encode URI mode to encode a complete URL (preserves ://, /, ?, &).
Use Encode Component mode to encode a single value like a query parameter.