Online URL Encoder / Decoder | SeoWiz Free SEO Tools

Online URL Encoder / Decoder

Search Engine Optimization

Best URL Encoder / Decoder Tool

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About Best URL Encoder / Decoder Tool

URL Encoder and Decoder by Seowiz.net

Seowiz offers a free online URL encoder/decoder tool that is both efficient and intelligent. This tool is useful for converting special characters in a URL parameter into a format that is suitable for transmission over the internet. This process, known as percent-encoding, involves replacing characters that are not allowed in URLs with a percent sign (%) and two hexadecimal values. The tool can also perform the reverse process of URL decoding, which is useful for determining the source of an email campaign or newsletter.

How to use URL Encoder/Decoder Tool?

SEOWIZ provides a convenient and user-friendly online URL encoder/decoder tool. To use the tool, simply enter your text into the designated space at this link: https://seowiz.net/online-url-encoder-decoder/. Then, choose whether you want to encode or decode the text by clicking the appropriate button. The results will be displayed instantly.

The tool is especially useful when you need to convert an encoded JavaScript URL, which is often difficult to read, into a more readable format. During the encoding process, special characters in the URL are represented by a percent symbol (%) followed by hexadecimal digits, while spaces are represented by a plus sign (+).

URLs can only be transmitted on the Internet using ASCII characters. When a URL contains characters outside of the ASCII set, it must be converted into a usable ASCII format through URL encoding. This process replaces characters that are not safe for use in URLs with a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits. Spaces in a URL are encoded as either a plus sign (+) or %20.

Features of our URL Encoder/Decoder Tool by SeoWiz

Our website uses the UTF-8 character set to encode input data, but this can be changed to another character set if needed. The encoding process doesn't include the character set for text data, so it may have to be specified during the decoding process. However,, no conversion is necessary for binary files, and the binary option is the default.

The newline separator can be changed to match the line break characters used by Unix or Windows systems. This option is less relevant for files, as they already contain the appropriate separators, but you can still specify which one to use for encoding text data.

The option "Encode each line separately" converts even newline characters into their percent-encoded forms, making it useful for encoding multiple independent data entries separated by line breaks. The option "Split lines into chunks" breaks up the encoded data into multiple lines without any whitespaces. This ensures that the encoded data adheres to the MIME (RFC 2045) specification, which states that the encoded lines must be no more than 76 characters long.

The "Live mode" option allows you to encode data immediately using your browser's JavaScript functions, without sending any information to our servers. Currently, only the UTF-8 character set is supported.

Note that you cannot enable both the "Encode each line separately" and "Split lines into chunks" options simultaneously, as the resulting output would not be valid for most applications.

What are URL Encoding and Decoding?

URL encoding and decoding are processes of converting data into a string format suitable for use in URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) by replacing reserved and non-ASCII characters with a percentage symbol (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits that represent the ASCII code of the character. URL decoding is the reverse process of converting the encoded string back into its original format. This process is necessary because URLs can only transmit data in limited characters.

Use of URL Encoding

URL encoding is used to encode data with special characters, such as spaces, punctuation marks, and non-ASCII letters, into a string format that can be transferred securely over the internet and included in a URL. This encoding ensures that the data being transferred is structured correctly and does not conflict with the URL's structure.

For instance, to include a string including a space in a URL, you would encode it as %20 instead of the actual space character, which is not allowed in URLs. Likewise, if a string contains special characters such as &, #, or =, you would encode them as %26, %23, and %3D, respectively, to guarantee that they are communicated and processed correctly by the receiver.

URL encoding is a frequently used approach in web development and a crucial component of many online technologies, including HTML forms and REST APIs.

URL Encoding process

URL encoding converts characters into bytes and represents them using a percentage sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal numbers that indicate the ASCII code of the byte.

For example, ASCII code 65 for "A" is 41 in hexadecimal. URLs encode "A" as %41.

This encodes each reserved or special character in a string, creating a URL-safe string. Encoding may be done manually by converting characters, encoding and then encoding them, or using a computer language library or function.

URL decoding returns the encoded string to its original format. The URL receiver, such as a web browser, usually does this automatically to display the contents.

URL Decoding process

Decoding a URL is restoring the original characters from an encoded version of the URL. If a URL contains a prohibited character, such a space, the URL must be encoded using the percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal numbers reflecting the ASCII code of the character. These percent-encoded values are decoded back into their original characters in the process of navigating to a website through a URL.

"Hello, World!" encoded as a URL would look as "Hello%20World%21," for instance. Simply converting the percent signs and hexadecimal numbers back into their original characters would reveal the text "Hello World!" encoded in this URL.

JavaScript, PHP, and Python are just some of the programming languages and tools that may be used for URL decoding. For this purpose, it is common practice to make use of a preexisting function or library method. While the specifics of decoding percent-encoded numbers back into their original characters might vary by programming language and tool, the underlying premise stays the same. Or, if you are not familiar with these programming languages, you can use our free online URL Encoder/Decoder tool.

Types of URL Characters

Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) may include either reserved or unreserved characters.

Reserved characters: if included in the sent data, certain special characters must be encoded because of their special significance in the context of a URI. /,?, #, &, =, +, %,:, and ; are all examples of reserved characters.

Unreserved characters are those that have no special significance in a URI and hence do not need encoding. Letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers (0-9), and a number of symbols (-,., _, and ) are all examples of unreserved characters.

Keep in mind that encoding is only required for reserved characters when they are actually being sent as part of the data in a URI. Reserved characters should not be encoded unless they are a required component of the URI structure (such as a separator or delimiter).