URL Decoder

About URL decoder

Reverses percent-encoding, turning strings full of %20 and %C3%A9 back into readable text. It is useful for reading tracking links, redirect parameters, log entries and search URLs that are close to impossible to parse by eye.

How to use it

1. Click the Decode URL tab, since the page opens on Encode URL.
2. Paste the encoded text into the box labelled URL to Decode.
3. Press Decode URL.
4. Read or copy the text shown in the URL Decoded Result panel.

Decoding a phrase with an accent

caf%C3%A9%20au%20lait

café au lait

When to use it

• Reading the destination hidden inside a redirect or click-tracking parameter.
• Making sense of query strings copied from server access logs.
• Checking exactly what a search page put in the address bar for a non-English query.
• Finding out whether a value was double-encoded on its way through a proxy.

Questions about URL decoder

What does the error message about a malformed URI mean?

A percent sign was not followed by two hexadecimal digits, or the byte sequence was not valid UTF-8. A stray percent, as in 100%, is the classic cause. Change it to %25 and try again.

Will plus signs turn into spaces?

No. Only %XX escapes are decoded, so a+b%20c becomes a+b c. If the plus signs came from a form submission, replace them with spaces yourself.

The result still contains percent signs. Why?

The original was encoded twice. Copy the output, paste it back in and decode a second time.

Can I paste an entire link?

Yes, and it will decode, but escaped reserved characters such as %2F turn back into slashes. That is fine for reading and unsafe to use as a working link.

Is decoding done on your side or a server?

Neither of those. It runs in your browser with the standard decodeURIComponent function, and the text you paste is not sent anywhere.

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• URL encoderEncode any string input to URL format.
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• Base64 encoderEncode any string input to Base64.
• Image to Base64Transform an image input to a Base64 string.
• Binary converterConvert text to binary and the other way for any string input.