URL Decoder – Decode URL Online (Free Tool)
Free online URL Decoder tool to decode URL-encoded text back to its original format. Convert percent-encoded strings to readable text instantly. Handle URL parameters, query strings, and encoded special characters. All decoding happens locally in your browser ensuring complete privacy.
What is URL Decoder?
URL Decode reverses percent-encoding to recover the original text or URL. It is what you reach for when a query string looks like %20%E2%80%99 and you need to know what it actually means. Decoding happens entirely in the browser; the encoded value (which may contain sensitive tokens) never leaves your machine.
Why use this tool?
- Lightweight page weight that loads quickly even on slow connections
- Works on desktop, tablet, and mobile in any modern browser
- Stable behavior across visits — no surprise version drift
- No telemetry on the tokens, payloads, or code you paste in
- Built for developer workflows: copy-friendly output, syntax-aware highlighting where useful
How to use
- Paste your input into the url decoder area
- Configure the options if the defaults don't match your case
- Click the action button and inspect the result
- Copy the output to your clipboard or download as a file
Examples
Read an encoded query string
Input: "?q=react%20hooks%20%26%20context" Output shows the literal query: q=react hooks & context.
Recover a redirect_uri
OAuth callbacks often embed a fully-encoded URL as a parameter; decoding it reveals where the user was originally headed.
Decode a UTF-8 sequence
Input: "%E4%BD%A0%E5%A5%BD" Output: 你好 — the bytes were valid UTF-8 for "Hello" in Chinese.
Common use cases
- Reading parameters out of a log line that captured a full URL
- Debugging OAuth flows where state and redirect_uri are encoded
- Decoding emails that arrived via a URL-based unsubscribe link
- Inspecting analytics URLs with UTM tags that include spaces and pipes
- Reverse-engineering a deep-link to a mobile app
Troubleshooting
- Spaces showed up as + signs in the output.
- Form-encoded data uses + for space. Toggle "decode + as space" so the result reads naturally.
- Error: "URI malformed".
- A lone % must be followed by two hex digits. Check for stray % characters in the input — they need to be %25 if they're literal.
- Decoded result still looks encoded.
- The input was double-encoded. Run decode twice (or until output stabilises) to fully recover the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
URL decoding converts percent-encoded characters back to their original form. It reverses the encoding applied to make text URL-safe.
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