Tool Introduction
The URL Encode/Decode tool is a powerful online utility designed to help users encode and decode special or non-ASCII characters in URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). In web development, data transmission, or API interactions, URLs containing non-standard characters (such as Chinese characters, spaces, question marks, ampersands, etc.) can lead to parsing errors or data loss. This tool strictly adheres to international standards such as RFC 3986 and RFC 1738, and provides multiple flexible conversion methods to ensure your URL data can be transmitted and processed safely and accurately.
As a bidirectional conversion tool, it can not only encode original strings into a URL-compliant format but also restore encoded URLs to their original readable strings, greatly improving the work efficiency of developers and general users.
How to Use
- Enter content to be processed:
- To encode, paste the original text or URL into the "Before Encoding" text box. For example:
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=计算器.
- To decode, paste the encoded URL or text into the "After Encoding" text box. For example:
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=%E8%AE%A1%E7%AE%97%E5%99%A8.
- Select Encoding Standard:
- RFC 3986 (Recommended): This is the current universal URL encoding standard on the internet, which specifies that spaces are encoded as
%20.
- RFC 1738 (Traditional): An older standard, in some traditional systems (such as HTML form submissions with
application/x-www-form-urlencoded), spaces are encoded as +.
- Select Conversion Method (only available for encoding):
- Space to Plus: Converts all spaces to
+ signs, instead of %20. This is very useful when processing certain form submission data.
- Keep Unencoded Characters: According to RFC standards, some unreserved characters (such as letters, numbers, -._~) are not encoded to improve readability.
- Force Full Encoding: Encodes all characters (except ASCII alphanumeric), even those allowed to be unreserved by RFC standards.
- Execute Conversion: Depending on your needs, click the corresponding "Encode" or "Decode" button, and the result will immediately appear in the other text box.
Usage Examples
- Example 1: Encoding a URL containing Chinese characters (RFC 3986, default settings)
- Operation Demo: Enter
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=计算器 in the "Before Encoding" text box, select "Encoding Standard" as "RFC 3986", keep "Conversion Method" default (or unselected), then click the "Encode" button.
- Input Data:
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=计算器
- Expected Output:
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=%E8%AE%A1%E7%AE%97%E5%99%A8
- Example 2: Encoding a string containing spaces (Space to Plus mode)
- Operation Demo: Enter
hello world ! in the "Before Encoding" text box, select "Conversion Method" as "Space to Plus", click the "Encode" button.
- Input Data:
hello world !
- Expected Output:
hello+world+!
- Example 3: Decoding an encoded URL
- Operation Demo: Enter
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=%E8%AE%A1%E7%AE%97%E5%99%A8 in the "After Encoding" text box, then click the "Decode" button.
- Input Data:
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=%E8%AE%A1%E7%AE%97%E5%99%A8
- Expected Output:
https://www.toolkk.com/search?keyword=计算器
Introduction to URL Encoding Standards
URL encoding (or percent-encoding) is a mechanism for converting special or non-ASCII characters contained in a URL into a network-safe format. The main standards are:
- RFC 3986: This is the latest and recommended general syntax standard for URIs (including URLs). It specifies which characters are "reserved characters" (requiring encoding) and which are "unreserved characters" (can be left unencoded). According to RFC 3986, the space character
should be encoded as %20. Most modern web systems and APIs follow this standard.
- RFC 1738: This is an older URL specification, which mentions in its appendix that when HTML form data (
application/x-www-form-urlencoded) is submitted, the space character can be encoded as +. Although this is not a general rule for URL encoding, it is still widely used in web form submissions and some older systems due to historical reasons. Therefore, when you see a space encoded as + in a URL, it is likely that you are dealing with such data.
This tool supports both encoding conventions, allowing users to flexibly choose according to specific scenarios.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What is the purpose of URL encoding? Why do I need it?
A: The main purpose of URL encoding is to ensure the validity and security of URLs during network transmission. It converts special characters (such as spaces, Chinese characters, ampersands, question marks, etc.) in a URL that might cause ambiguity, conflict, or cannot be directly transmitted, into a unified percent-encoded format (for example, a space becomes %20 or +, and Chinese characters are encoded into multiple %xx sequences). This prevents browsers or servers from incorrectly parsing URLs, ensuring data is transmitted completely and accurately, especially when passing Chinese parameters in GET requests.
- Q: What is the difference between RFC 3986 and RFC 1738? Which one should I choose?
A: They primarily differ in how they handle space characters. RFC 3986 specifies that spaces should be encoded as %20, which is the more recommended and common practice today. RFC 1738 (and the application/x-www-form-urlencoded standard) allows spaces to be encoded as +. If you are unsure, it is generally recommended to choose RFC 3986. If your data originates from HTML form submissions or needs to interact with systems that treat + as a space, you might need to choose RFC 1738 or use the "Space to Plus" conversion method.
- Q: Why does my URL encode spaces as plus signs? How can I make it
%20?
A: This usually happens because you selected the "Space to Plus" conversion method, or chose a mode similar to RFC 1738 during encoding. If you want spaces to be encoded as %20, please ensure you select "RFC 3986 (Recommended)" as the encoding standard and do not select the "Space to Plus" conversion method when encoding.
Notes
- Choose the correct standard: When encoding or decoding URLs, be sure to select the RFC 3986 or RFC 1738 encoding standard and the appropriate conversion method based on your application scenario or the requirements of the target system. Incorrect encoding/decoding standards may lead to data parsing errors.
- Avoid double encoding: If a part of the URL has already been encoded, avoid encoding it again, as this may lead to "double encoding" issues, causing decoding to fail or producing incorrect results. Typically, you only need to encode the unencoded original string.
- Input data format: Ensure that the input to the tool is a plain text string or a valid URL segment. Although the tool can handle most characters, non-text or binary data is not suitable for direct input.
- Character set: URL encoding is usually processed based on the UTF-8 character set, especially when dealing with multi-byte characters such as Chinese characters. Please ensure that your original data source also uses UTF-8 encoding to avoid garbled characters.
