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URL Encoder — Percent-Encode Text for Free

Escape text so it survives being put in a URL.

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Runs on your device What you paste is processed by your own browser. It is never sent to a server, and it is not stored anywhere after you leave the page.

Short answer

Text can be percent-encoded for a URL for free in a web browser with nothing uploaded. Two modes are offered: encoding a single value, which escapes the reserved characters &, ?, =, / and # so a value cannot break out of the parameter it belongs to, and encoding a whole URL, which leaves those structural characters intact. Characters outside ASCII are written as their UTF-8 bytes, which is what the URL standard requires.

At a glance

AcceptsAny text or URL
ProducesPercent-encoded text
ProcessingIn your browser
PriceFree, no limits
AccountNot required

The choice between the two modes is the whole tool, and getting it wrong is the usual cause of a broken link. A search term containing an ampersand, escaped as a whole URL rather than as a value, silently becomes a second query parameter — and the page it lands on receives half the phrase.

Encode a single value when you are building one parameter: a search term, a redirect target, an email address, a filename. Encode a whole URL only when you have a complete address that needs its spaces and non-ASCII characters cleaned up without disturbing its structure.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Paste the text

    A query value, a path fragment, or a complete URL.

  2. 2

    Choose what to escape

    A single value escapes everything reserved. A whole URL keeps :/?#[]@ intact so the address still works.

  3. 3

    Convert

    The percent-encoded result appears below.

  4. 4

    Copy it into your URL

    Copy to the clipboard, or download it as a text file.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the two modes?

Encoding a single value escapes the characters that separate one part of a URL from another, so the text stays inside its own parameter. Encoding a whole URL leaves those separators alone, because in a complete address they are doing their job.

Why did my ampersand break the link?

Because an unescaped & starts a new query parameter. A value containing one has to be escaped as %26, which is what the single-value mode does and the whole-URL mode deliberately does not.

How are non-English characters handled?

They are written as their UTF-8 bytes, each as a %XX pair — so a Chinese character becomes three of them. That is what the URL standard specifies and what every modern server expects.

Are spaces encoded as %20 or +?

%20, which is correct everywhere in a URL. The + convention only applies inside an HTML form submission body, and using it in a path or a modern API query is a common source of bugs.

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