Online URL Decoder
Online URL decoder: restore percent-encoded URL strings back to readable text in your browser instantly. Supports Chinese and special characters.
Tool input and output
URL decoding use cases
URL decoding turns %XX percent-encoding back into readable text. It is used to analyze parameters in the address bar, debug callback URLs, read Chinese content from shared links, and inspect escaped query parameters in logs.
This tool supports both percent-encoding and + as space. Its rules match decodeURIComponent, so Chinese, Japanese and emoji all decode correctly.
Which standard defines percent-encoding?
URL encoding writes a byte that cannot appear as-is as a percent sign plus two hexadecimal digits. That rule is in RFC 3986. It is not encryption.
“A percent-encoding mechanism is used to represent a data octet in a component when that octet's corresponding character is outside the allowed set or is being used as a delimiter of, or within, the component.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the decoded result still garbled?
This usually means the data was encoded multiple times (e.g. encoded then escaped again), or the charset is not UTF-8. Try the complete original string and confirm the source consistently uses UTF-8.
%20 and + both mean space — are the results the same?
%20 means space in any position, while + only means space in form (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) semantics. This tool decodes both forms correctly.
Does decoding affect whether a link works?
No. Decoding only restores the display form; when the link is visited, the browser re-encodes it, so the result is equivalent to the original link.