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Unicode-Safe

Online URL Encoder & Decoder

Convert plain text and special characters into URL-safe percent-encoded strings, or decode percent-encoded URLs back into human-readable text. Handles all Unicode characters including accented letters, CJK scripts, and emoji.

Essential for working with query parameters, API requests, form submissions, and any context where special characters must be safely transmitted in URLs. All processing happens in your browser.

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All encoding/decoding runs locally in your browser. No data is transmitted.
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How It Works (Step-by-Step)

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1. Enter Your Text

Paste a URL, query string, or plain text into the input field.

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2. Encode or Decode

Click Encode to convert special characters to percent-encoded format, or Decode to restore encoded strings to readable text.

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3. Copy the Result

Use the copy button to transfer the encoded or decoded output directly to your clipboard.

Key Features & Advantages

Full Unicode Support

Correctly handles multibyte characters, accented letters, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean text, and emoji using standard encodeURIComponent encoding.

Instant Two-Way Conversion

Switch between encoding and decoding with a single click. Swap input and output fields to quickly reverse operations.

Robust Error Handling

Gracefully handles malformed percent-encoded sequences with clear error messages instead of crashing silently.

Browser-Only Privacy

Your URLs, query parameters, and sensitive data are processed entirely in your browser and never transmitted to any server.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is URL encoding?
URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) replaces unsafe characters in a URL with a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the character's byte value. For example, a space becomes %20 and an ampersand becomes %26.
Why do special characters need to be encoded in URLs?
URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Characters like spaces, ampersands, question marks, and non-ASCII letters have special meaning in URL syntax or are not allowed. Encoding them ensures they are transmitted correctly without breaking the URL structure.
What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?
encodeURI encodes a complete URI but preserves characters that have meaning in URL structure (like :, /, ?, #, &). encodeURIComponent encodes all special characters, making it suitable for encoding individual query parameter values where those characters should be treated as literal text.
How does URL encoding handle Unicode characters?
Unicode characters are first converted to their UTF-8 byte representation, then each byte is percent-encoded. For example, the Arabic letter "ع" (U+0639) is encoded as %D8%B9, which represents its two UTF-8 bytes.
Is it safe to decode URLs in this tool?
Yes. The decoding process runs entirely in your browser using the standard decodeURIComponent function. No data is sent to any server, making it safe for URLs containing API keys, tokens, or other sensitive query parameters.

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