How to URL Encode and Decode Text Online
URLs can only contain certain characters. Special characters like spaces, ampersands, and symbols must be encoded to work properly in web addresses, query parameters, and API requests. URL encoding converts these characters to percent-encoded format (%20 for space, %26 for &). This guide shows you how to URL encode and decode text using fixie.tools — a free tool with instant browser-based conversion.
Step 1: Open the URL Encoder Tool
Go to fixie.tools/url-encode in your browser. The tool performs all encoding and decoding locally in your browser with no server uploads, ensuring privacy and instant results.
Step 2: Select Encode or Decode
Choose whether you want to encode plain text to URL-safe format or decode URL-encoded text back to readable form. Encoding converts characters like spaces to %20 and & to %26. Decoding reverses this process, turning %20 back into spaces and making URLs human-readable.
Step 3: Enter Your Text or URL
For encoding, paste text you want to use in a URL, such as search queries, form data, or API parameters. For decoding, paste a URL-encoded string that contains percent signs and hex codes like %20, %3D, or %26. The tool handles both full URLs and individual query parameters.
Step 4: View Encoded/Decoded Result
The converted result appears instantly as you type. For encoding, you'll see all special characters converted to percent-encoded format (%XX where XX is the hexadecimal ASCII code). Spaces become %20, exclamation marks become %21, quotes become %22, and so on. For decoding, percent codes are converted back to their original characters making the URL readable again.
Step 5: Copy and Use in Your URLs
Click Copy to copy the encoded or decoded text to your clipboard. Use URL-encoded text in query strings, form submissions, API calls, or anywhere special characters need to appear in URLs. Properly encoded URLs prevent errors when characters like &, =, or ? appear in parameter values rather than as URL syntax.