Question 1

What is URL encoding?

Accepted Answer

URL encoding (percent-encoding) converts characters that are not safe in URLs into a % followed by two hexadecimal digits. For example, a space becomes %20 and & becomes %26. This ensures URLs are valid in all contexts.

Question 2

When should I encode just the component vs the full URL?

Accepted Answer

Use "Encode component" for individual query parameter values (it encodes /, ?, & and other URL-significant characters). Use "Encode URL" for a full URL that has a valid structure you want to preserve.

Question 3

What characters are safe in URLs?

Accepted Answer

Letters (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9), and the characters - _ . ~ are safe without encoding. Everything else should be percent-encoded in query strings.

URL Encoder / Decoder

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URL Encoder / Decoder

Frequently Asked Questions

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