# URL Decoder

> Decode percent-encoded URLs and query strings back to readable text.

- Page: https://decoder.tools/url-decoder
- Category: Data, Radix & String
- Status: live, runs in the browser
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-23

A URL decoder reverses percent-encoding: every `%XX` sequence is turned back into the byte it represents, and the bytes are read as UTF-8 text. `%20` becomes a space and `%C3%A9` becomes `é`.

## Example

```text Input
https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcaf%C3%A9%20au%20lait%26lang%3Den
```

```text Output
https://example.com/search?q=café au lait&lang=en
```

## What is URL encoding?

URLs may only contain a limited set of ASCII characters, and some of those (`/ ? # & = +`) have special meaning. Percent-encoding (RFC 3986) is how anything else gets in: the character is converted to UTF-8 bytes and each byte is written as `%` followed by two hex digits.

Two details cause most confusion:

- **`+` versus `%20`.** In HTML form submissions (`application/x-www-form-urlencoded`), a space is written as `+`. In other parts of a URL, `+` is a literal plus sign. This tool treats `+` as a space by default. Switch the option to **No (strict RFC 3986)** when decoding a path or a value where `+` should stay.
- **Double encoding.** If the output still contains `%25`, `%2F` and so on, the string was encoded twice (`%25` is an encoded `%`). Decode the output again.

## Common percent-encoded characters

| Encoded | Character | Encoded | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| `%20` | space | `%3D` | `=` |
| `%21` | `!` | `%3F` | `?` |
| `%22` | `"` | `%40` | `@` |
| `%23` | `#` | `%2B` | `+` |
| `%25` | `%` | `%2C` | `,` |
| `%26` | `&` | `%2F` | `/` |
| `%3A` | `:` | `%7E` | `~` |

## How to use the URL decoder

1. Paste the encoded URL or query string.
2. Choose whether `+` means a space. Keep **Yes** for query strings from forms.
3. Read the decoded text. If it still contains `%XX` sequences, decode it once more.

## Decode a URL in code

```js JavaScript
console.log(decodeURIComponent("caf%C3%A9%20au%20lait")); // café au lait

// For query strings, URLSearchParams also turns + into a space
console.log(new URLSearchParams("q=caf%C3%A9+au+lait").get("q")); // café au lait
```

```python Python
from urllib.parse import unquote, unquote_plus

print(unquote("caf%C3%A9%20au%20lait"))      # café au lait
print(unquote_plus("caf%C3%A9+au+lait"))     # café au lait
```

## URL encoding at a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Specification | RFC 3986 (URIs), WHATWG URL Standard, HTML form encoding |
| Format | `%` plus two hex digits per byte |
| Character encoding | UTF-8 |
| Space | `%20`, or `+` in form-encoded query strings |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between decodeURI and decodeURIComponent?

`decodeURI` leaves the characters that structure a URL encoded (such as `%2F` for `/` and `%3F` for `?`), so the URL keeps its shape. `decodeURIComponent` decodes everything, which is what you want for a single query value. This tool behaves like `decodeURIComponent`.

### Why do I get a "malformed percent-encoding" error?

Either a `%` is not followed by two hex digits, or the bytes don't form valid UTF-8. A literal `%` in the text should have been encoded as `%25`. Older systems sometimes encode in Latin-1 (`%E9` for é), which isn't valid UTF-8.

### Should + be decoded as a space?

In query strings that came from HTML forms, yes. In paths, and in values encoded with `encodeURIComponent`, no, because there a space is always `%20` and `+` means a plus sign.