What is URL/URI encoding?

URL encoding (also known as percent-encoding) is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) under certain circumstances. URL encoding is used when placing text in a query string to avoid it being interpreted as URL syntax, and to handle characters that are not permitted in URLs.

When text contains special characters, spaces, new lines, or other reserved characters, they cannot be properly used in a URL. URL encoding solves this problem by replacing these characters with a sequence consisting of a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the ASCII code of the character.

How URL Encoding Works

Alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) remain unchanged
Spaces are converted to "+" or "%20" (this tool uses "%20")
Special characters are converted to their hexadecimal ASCII values preceded by a percent sign (%)
Reserved characters in URLs (like ?, &, =, /, :, etc.) are also encoded
Non-ASCII characters (like é, ñ, 漢) are first UTF-8 encoded, then each byte is percent-encoded

Example of URL encoded text

Original text:

“A World of Dew” by Kobayashi Issa

A world of dew,

And within every dewdrop

A world of struggle.

URL encoded text:

%E2%80%9CA+World+of+Dew%E2%80%9D+by+Kobayashi+Issa%0A%0AA+world+of+dew%2C%0A%0AAnd+within+every+dewdrop%0A%0AA+world+of+struggle.+

Common URL Encoding Examples

Character	URL Encoded	Description
Space	%20	Spaces in URLs must be encoded
&	%26	Used to separate query parameters
?	%3F	Marks the beginning of the query string
=	%3D	Separates parameter names from values
/	%2F	Path separator in URLs
+	%2B	Plus sign must be encoded
%	%25	Percent sign itself must be encoded

Parameters

Input text: Any text you want to encode for use in a URL

Common Use Cases

Creating query parameters in URLs
Encoding form data for HTTP GET and POST requests
Handling user input that will be included in URLs
Creating links with non-ASCII characters
Passing complex data structures in URLs

Tip:

When working with URLs, remember that different parts of a URL have different encoding rules. For example, the query string has different rules than the path. This tool follows the standard encoding for query parameters.