About the URL Decode
Percent-encoded text is everywhere in logs, referrer headers, redirect chains and copied URLs: %20 for a space, %3D for an equals sign, %C3%A9 for an é. This tool reverses the encoding, decoding the UTF-8 percent-escapes so multi-byte characters come back as the right letter rather than two garbled ones.
Form-encoded data uses + for spaces, so the tool converts + to a space by default; untick that option when decoding a path segment, where a literal plus can be meaningful. Malformed input, such as a % not followed by two hex digits, is reported clearly instead of throwing.
To read the parts of a URL rather than just decode it, the URL Parser breaks it into protocol, host, path and parameters. To pull a query string into structured data, use Query String to JSON.
How to use
- Paste the encoded text.
- Untick "Treat + as space" if you are decoding a path rather than a form value.
- Copy the decoded text.
Common questions
- It says the encoding is malformed. Why?
- A % must be followed by exactly two hexadecimal digits. A lone % or one followed by non-hex characters is invalid.
- Should + become a space?
- In query strings and form bodies, yes. In a URL path, a + is a literal plus, so untick the option.
- Why were accented characters wrong before?
- Decoders that do not treat the bytes as UTF-8 mangle multi-byte characters. This tool decodes UTF-8 correctly.