About URL Encoder Decoder
URL encoding (percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed or have special meaning in URLs into a format that can be safely transmitted. For example, a space becomes %20, Hindi characters become their UTF-8 percent-encoded equivalents.
Use encodeURIComponent for individual query parameters (like search terms, values). Use encodeURI for full URLs where you want to preserve the structural characters like ://, ?, & and =. Decoding reverses this process back to human-readable text.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?+
encodeURI encodes a full URL and preserves structural characters like ://, ?, & and =. encodeURIComponent encodes everything including these characters โ use it for individual parameter values to prevent them from breaking URL structure.
Why does a space become %20 or + in URLs?+
%20 is the standard percent-encoding for space in URLs. Some older form submissions use + for space in query strings (application/x-www-form-urlencoded format). Both are valid but %20 is more universal.
Can I encode Hindi or Telugu text in URLs?+
Yes. Non-ASCII characters like Hindi "เคจเคฎเคธเฅเคคเฅ" are encoded as their UTF-8 byte sequences in percent-encoding. Modern browsers display the original Unicode in the address bar but transmit the encoded form.
When do I need to decode a URL?+
When you receive a URL or query string with percent-encoded characters and need to read the original values โ for example decoding API responses, reading log files, or debugging redirect URLs.
Are there characters that should not be encoded?+
encodeURIComponent preserves letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers (0-9) and - _ . ! ~ * ( ) characters. All other characters including /, ?, &, = are encoded. encodeURI additionally preserves these structural URL characters.