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URL Encoder

Percent-encode text for use in a URL. Choose whether you are encoding a whole URL or a single parameter value.

Runs entirely in your browser

How to use the URL Encoder

  1. 1Paste the URL or the value you want to encode.
  2. 2Choose the mode: full URL, or a single component.
  3. 3Copy the encoded result.
  4. 4Switch to component mode if you are building a query string.

How it works

There are two different jobs here and using the wrong one is the classic URL bug. Encoding a full URL must leave the structural characters alone — the :// , the / between path segments, the ? and the & — or the URL stops being a URL. Encoding a single parameter value must escape those same characters, or a value containing & will be read as the start of another parameter.

So encoding https://example.com/a b as a full URL gives https://example.com/a%20b, with the slashes intact. Encoding the same string as a component escapes everything: https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fa%20b — which is exactly right when that URL is being passed as a redirect parameter.

Percent-encoding writes each disallowed byte as % followed by two hex digits. Non-ASCII characters are converted to UTF-8 first, so a single character can become several escapes: é becomes %C3%A9.

Spaces have two encodings. In a path a space is %20; in a query string, + is also accepted by most servers as a legacy convention. %20 is always safe.

Everything runs in this page. Nothing you paste is transmitted, logged or stored, which is what makes it safe to drop a production payload in here while you are debugging.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the two modes?
Full-URL mode preserves the characters that give a URL its structure (: / ? & #). Component mode escapes them, which is what you need when a value is being embedded inside a query parameter.
Why did my URL parameter break?
Almost always because a value containing &, ? or = was not encoded as a component, so the server read it as the start of a new parameter.
Should a space be %20 or +?
%20 always works. The + form is a legacy convention accepted in query strings only, and it is wrong in a path.

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