Free tool
URL encode & decode.
Percent-encode a query value so a space or an ampersand stops breaking your link, or paste a %E2%80%99-riddled string and read it again. Absolute URLs are broken down into host, path and decoded query parameters underneath.
- Scheme
- https
- Host
- commareports.com
- Port
- default
- Path
- /p/9f3c
- Fragment
- —
- Parameters
- 3
| Key | Decoded value |
|---|---|
| q | deploy report |
| tags | ci,staging |
| note | 5 > 3 "burst" |
Publishes the breakdown to Comma: one URL instead of a wall of escapes in a chat thread, readers comment on the exact parameter, and every re-publish is kept as a revision. Free, no card.
Component or whole URL
The choice is about what the string is, not how long it is. A value you are about to drop after ?q= is a component: it must not be allowed to contain an unescaped &, =, ? or #, because each of those would end it early and hand the rest to the parser as structure. A link you already built is a whole URL: its slashes and question mark are the structure, so only the characters that would break it — spaces, quotes, angle brackets — get escaped.
Encoding a whole URL as a component is the more common mistake, and it is loud: https%3A%2F%2F… at the start of the output means you wanted Whole URL. Encoding a component as a whole URL is the quiet one — it looks fine until a value contains an ampersand and silently becomes two parameters.
Double encoding
When a value passes through two systems that both encode it, %20 becomes %2520 — the percent sign itself got escaped. The counter in the corner is how you spot it: decode once, and if escapes are still left, the string was encoded twice. Decode until the count reaches zero, then fix the layer that encoded it a second time rather than storing the over-decoded copy.
When the link should be a report
Half the reason people paste a 400-character tracking URL into a chat window is to ask someone what is in it. Published as a report it becomes a page instead: the parameters laid out as a table, comments anchored to the one that looks wrong, and every re-publish kept as a revision you can diff. An agent can do the whole loop over the MCP server.
Questions
- How do I URL encode text online?
- Paste the text into the editor with Encode selected. Every character that is not safe in a URL — spaces, quotes, ampersands, slashes, anything above ASCII — comes back as a percent escape such as %20 or %E2%80%99. Copy the result or download it. Nothing installs and nothing is uploaded.
- How do I decode a URL?
- Switch to Decode and paste the string. Every %XX escape is resolved back to the character it stands for, one escape at a time, so a single malformed sequence is left visible instead of failing the whole string. If the result still has escapes in it, the value was encoded twice — decode again.
- What is the difference between Component and Whole URL?
- Component escapes everything that is not an unreserved character, including / ? # & = and +, because a single query value must not be allowed to end the query. Whole URL leaves the reserved characters that give a URL its structure alone and only fixes what would break it, such as spaces. Encoding a value you are about to put after ?q= is almost always Component.
- Why does my link break on a space or an ampersand?
- A raw space ends the URL in most parsers, and a raw & starts the next query parameter — so a value containing either is read as something else entirely. Encoding the value as a component turns them into %20 and %26, which travel intact and decode back on the other side.
- Is + the same as %20?
- Only inside a query string, and only because HTML form submissions historically encoded spaces that way. In a path segment a + is a literal plus sign. The Treat + as space toggle exists for exactly that ambiguity: turn it on for something copied out of a form post, off for a path.
- What does the URL breakdown show?
- When the input parses as an absolute URL, the scheme, host, port, path and fragment are split out and every query parameter is listed with its value already decoded. It is the fastest way to answer what is actually in a long analytics or redirect link, without reading percent escapes by eye.
- Is my text uploaded anywhere?
- No. Encoding, decoding and parsing all run in your browser with the platform's own URL functions. The text only leaves your machine if you choose Get a shareable link, which publishes it as a Comma report you control.
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