URL Decode online

The tool uses UTF-8 encoding scheme.Found a bug? report!

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About URLDecoder

URL Decoder is the #1 online tool for decoding URLs. Get started by typing or pasting a URL encoded string in the input text area, the tool will automatically decode your input string in real time.

If the input is not a valid URL encoded string, then the input text area will turn red and the output textarea will be cleared.

Once your input string is decoded, you can click in the output text area to copy the decoded URL.

Note that, our tool assumes that the input is encoded using UTF-8 encoding scheme. The world wide web consortium recommends using UTF-8 encoding scheme when working with URLs.

Our website also contains various articles about how to decode URLs in different programming languages. You should definitely check them out in the blog section.

We also have a tool for encoding URLs. It is hosted at https://www.urlencoder.io. Do check that out if you want to encode URL components.

What is URL Decoding and why is it required?

URL decoding is the inverse process of URL encoding. It is used to parse query strings or path parameters passed in URLs. It is also used to decode HTML form parameters that are submitted with application/x-www-form-urlencoded MIME format

URLs, as you might know, can only contain a limited set of characters from the US-ASCII character set. These characters include Alphabets (A-Z a-z), Digits (0-9), hyphen (-), underscore (_), tilde (~), and dot (.). Any character outside this allowed set is encoded using URL encoding or Percent encoding.

This is why, it becomes necessary to decode query strings or path parameters passed in URLs to get the actual values.

How does URL Decoding work?

Following rules are applied for decoding query strings, path parameters, or HTML form parameters:

  • The alphanumeric characters a - z, A - Z, and 0 - 9 remain the same.
  • Safe characters like -, _, ~, and ~ remain the same.
  • Any sequence of the form %xy is treated as a byte where xy is the two-digit hexadecimal representation of the 8 bits. Then, all substrings that contain one or more of these byte sequences consecutively is replaced by the character(s) whose encoding would result in those consecutive bytes.

Common URL decoding examples

Encoded StringDecoded Character
%20space
%25%
%26&
%2B+
%2F/
%3D=
%3F?
%40@

All right, So what are you waiting for? Start using our online tool from now on to decode URLs in a safe, secure, and easy way.

You can find out more information on the blog.