How to use it
Pick an action
“Encode a value” for text that goes after = or into a path, “Encode a whole URL” to keep its : / ? # &, and “Decode” to read an encoded link.
Paste
The output appears at once; each line is handled on its own.
Analyse a link
The “Analyse a link” tab lists the domain, path and every parameter after ? with its decoded value.
Value vs whole URL
| Text | Encode a value | Encode a whole URL |
|---|---|---|
a b | a%20b | a%20b |
?x=1&y=2 | %3Fx%3D1%26y%3D2 | ?x=1&y=2 |
https:// | https%3A%2F%2F | https:// |
café | caf%C3%A9 | caf%C3%A9 |
Good to know
Why are non-English links so long? URLs carry ASCII only, so each non-ASCII character is sent as UTF-8 bytes written %XX. Browsers show it readable, but copying gives the encoded form.
International domains. A domain like bücher.de or an Arabic one is sent as Punycode starting with xn--. We convert both ways.
Don’t encode twice. If %25 shows up in the output, the text was already encoded. Decode it first.
FAQ
How do I make an encoded link readable?
Choose “Decode” and paste it. Domains starting with xn-- are shown in their own script too.
When do I encode a value?
Whenever you put text inside a URL after = or in a path, like a WhatsApp message or a search term, so characters like & and ? aren’t read as part of the URL.
What does “space as +” mean?
HTML forms send spaces as + (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). Turn it on when decoding form data or preparing a value for one.
Why do I get a decoding error?
Either a % isn’t followed by two hex digits (write a literal % as %25), or the bytes don’t form valid UTF-8 because the link was cut. We decode what we can and point to the problem.