Why URLs need encoding
Spaces, ampersands, question marks and non-ASCII characters have special meaning or are not allowed in URLs. Percent encoding replaces them with a % followed by two hex digits, so a search for 'rate & tenure' becomes rate%20%26%20tenure. UTM parameters, WhatsApp share links and API calls all depend on it.
Encode vs decode
Encode before putting user text into a URL; decode when reading a value out of one. The decoder also converts + to a space for form-encoded strings.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference from encodeURI?
This tool uses encodeURIComponent, which also encodes / ? & = so it is safe for single parameter values.
Does it handle Hindi text?
Yes, non-ASCII characters are encoded as UTF-8 percent sequences.