Component or complete URI?
Use URL component for a single path segment, query value, or fragment value. Use complete URI for a whole address whose separators must remain readable. The page transforms text only; it never visits, validates, or sends the URL.
Percent-encoding rules
Encoding represents Unicode as UTF-8 percent escapes. Complete-URI mode preserves reserved syntax characters, while component mode encodes them. Decode reverses only valid escape sequences and reports malformed percent data.
Example
Component mode encodes “café + tea” as caf%C3%A9%20%2B%20tea. Complete-URI mode keeps https://, ?, = and & in an address while encoding spaces and non-ASCII text.
Limits and FAQ
A literal + remains + during decoding; it is not silently changed to a space. This differs from HTML form-urlencoded parsing. The result is not a security check and does not confirm that a host or path exists.
Choosing the correct mode
If you are encoding one value to place inside a URL, choose URL component so characters such as &, =, /, and ? cannot become separators. If you already have the complete address and want to preserve its structure, choose Complete URI. Encoding the same text twice produces %25 sequences and is usually a mistake.
Troubleshooting decoded text
Decode only text that is actually percent-encoded. A malformed % sequence is rejected instead of guessed. For HTML form data, + may mean a space, but this general URL tool deliberately leaves + unchanged; replace or parse it according to the form format before decoding if needed.