What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?

encodeURI encodes a full URL, preserving characters like colons, slashes, and question marks. encodeURIComponent encodes everything except letters, digits, and a few safe characters. Use encodeURIComponent for individual parameter values.

Should I encode the entire URL or just the parameters?

Only encode the parameter values, not the entire URL. The URL structure characters like protocol separators, slashes, and question marks should remain unencoded.

Can I decode a URL to see its original values?

Yes. Switch to Decode mode and paste the encoded URL to see the original, human-readable text.

How to Encode URL Parameters

3 min readDeveloper

Special characters in URLs can break links and cause unexpected behavior. This guide shows you how to properly encode URL parameters using percent-encoding, and how to decode encoded URLs back to readable text.

Quick Steps

1
Open URL Encoder
Go to the URL Encoder/Decoder on Toolin.
2
Enter your text
Paste text with special characters.
3
Encode or Decode
Click Encode to percent-encode or Decode to reverse it.
4
Copy the result
Use the encoded string in your URLs.

URL Encoder

Encode and decode URL strings

Open Tool

Step-by-Step: Encode URL Parameters

Open the URL Encoder tool

Navigate to the URL Encoder/Decoder on Toolin.

Enter your text or URL

Paste the text containing special characters that you need to encode for use in a URL.

Click Encode

The tool converts special characters to their percent-encoded equivalents.

Copy the encoded output

Use the encoded string safely in your URLs, query parameters, or API requests.

Why URL Encoding Matters

URLs can only contain a limited set of ASCII characters. Characters like spaces, ampersands, question marks, and non-ASCII characters must be percent-encoded to be safely included in URLs. Without proper encoding, browsers and servers may misinterpret the URL structure, leading to broken links, incorrect query parameters, or security vulnerabilities like injection attacks.

Characters That Need Encoding

Spaces become %20 or + in query strings.
Ampersands (&) become %26 to avoid splitting parameters.
Question marks (?) become %3F when used in parameter values.
Forward slashes (/) become %2F in parameter values.
Non-ASCII characters like accented letters are encoded as UTF-8 byte sequences.

Try URL Encoder Now — Free, No Sign-up

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between encodeURI and encodeURIComponent?: encodeURI encodes a full URL, preserving characters like colons, slashes, and question marks. encodeURIComponent encodes everything except letters, digits, and a few safe characters. Use encodeURIComponent for individual parameter values.
Should I encode the entire URL or just the parameters?: Only encode the parameter values, not the entire URL. The URL structure characters like protocol separators, slashes, and question marks should remain unencoded.
Can I decode a URL to see its original values?: Yes. Switch to Decode mode and paste the encoded URL to see the original, human-readable text.