Percent-encode and decode URL components. Handles UTF-8 and reserved characters correctly.
Free online URL encoder and decoder. Percent-encode query strings, paths, or full URLs. UTF-8 aware, supports encodeURIComponent vs encodeURI modes.
encodeURI preserves reserved characters that have a purpose in a URL (':', '/', '?', '#'), so it's meant to encode a whole URL. encodeURIComponent encodes everything non-alphanumeric, so it's meant for individual query parameters or path segments.
Accented characters are not ASCII and must be percent-encoded. 'café' becomes 'caf%C3%A9' in UTF-8. Browsers sometimes hide this behind the scenes, but servers and HTTP libraries require the encoded form.
No. URL encoding only escapes characters that would break a URL, preserving readable ASCII. Base64 encodes arbitrary binary into a 64-character alphabet, producing longer strings but round-tripping any bytes.