Can I decode a full URL?

Yes. Paste the entire URL and every percent-encoded sequence is decoded in place, including encoded delimiters such as %2F, %3F and %26, so the decoded text may no longer parse as the same URL. To read each parameter's value, use the Query String Parser, which splits the query before decoding it.

%20 is the percent-encoded form of a space character. Different parts of a URL may show spaces as either %20 or + (in query strings). %20 is always decoded; + becomes a space only when "Treat + as a space" is ticked.

What if my URL contains invalid percent sequences?

Invalid sequences (like a lone % without two hex digits) produce a decoding error message. The original input is preserved so you can fix the value and try again.

Is the URL sent to a server?

All decoding runs in your browser using JavaScript's built-in decodeURIComponent. Our servers are not involved at any point.

Decode URL Online

Paste a percent-encoded URL or fragment to see the readable original. Sequences like %20, %2F, and %3A are translated back into spaces, slashes, and colons. All decoding runs in your browser.

Input

Output

URL TOOLS

URL Decode

Decodes percent-encoded characters back to their original form (decodeURIComponent). Tick “Treat + as a space” for form-encoded query strings.

Treat + as a space

Runs entirely in your browser

How it works

decodeURIComponent decodes every %XX sequence in the text you paste, including encoded delimiters such as %2F, %3F, and %26. That makes a full URL readable, but the result may no longer parse as the same URL; to read each parameter separately, use the query string parser.

Processing runs in your browser

All encoding, decoding, and parsing happens inside your browser tab. Our servers are not involved at any point. You can see this yourself in your browser's DevTools Network tab.

Technical specification

Percent-encoding (URL encoding) is defined in RFC 3986 §2.1 (IETF, 2005). Each octet is written as % followed by two uppercase hexadecimal digits. Unreserved characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -._~) never need encoding, and reserved characters (:/?#[]@!$&'()*+,;=) are encoded when they appear inside a value. This tool uses JavaScript's encodeURIComponent and decodeURIComponent, defined in the ECMAScript standard (ECMA-262). encodeURIComponent also leaves ! ' ( ) * as they are, so a system that expects strict RFC 3986 output may need those five escaped. Query string parsing uses URLSearchParams from the WHATWG URL Standard, which reads + as a space.

Standard: RFC 3986. Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax
Encoding unit: One octet → %XX (two uppercase hex digits)
Space encoding: %20 per RFC 3986; + in HTML form data (RFC 1866)
Browser API: encodeURIComponent() / URLSearchParams

Related operations

To encode binary blobs as text, try Base64. For escaping reserved markup characters, use HTML entities. To inspect the encoded query body of a JSON request, see the JSON formatter.

Frequently asked questions

Can I decode a full URL?: Yes. Paste the entire URL and every percent-encoded sequence is decoded in place, including encoded delimiters such as %2F, %3F and %26, so the decoded text may no longer parse as the same URL. To read each parameter's value, use the Query String Parser, which splits the query before decoding it.
What does %20 mean?: %20 is the percent-encoded form of a space character. Different parts of a URL may show spaces as either %20 or + (in query strings). %20 is always decoded; + becomes a space only when "Treat + as a space" is ticked.
What if my URL contains invalid percent sequences?: Invalid sequences (like a lone % without two hex digits) produce a decoding error message. The original input is preserved so you can fix the value and try again.
Is the URL sent to a server?: All decoding runs in your browser using JavaScript's built-in decodeURIComponent. Our servers are not involved at any point.

Last reviewed September 30, 2026

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