How to Decode an Encoded URL or Multiple Lines with url-decode.com

Paste the encoded URL into the Input box on url-decode.com and the readable version appears in Decoded Result; if you have several encoded entries, tick Decode each line separately first so each line is handled on its own. You can then copy the result or download it, and the same page also offers an Encode action for the reverse direction.

Decoding a single encoded URL

1. Open url-decode.com. The page shows an Input area at the top and a Decoded Result area below it.
2. Paste your encoded link into Input. For example, paste http%3A%2F%2Furl-decode.com%2Ftool%2Furl-decode.
3. Read the converted link in Decoded Result. The example above becomes http://url-decode.com/tool/url-decode.
4. Copy the result, or use the download option to save it.

The page also provides a Sample you can load to see how the tool behaves before using your own data, and a Load From URL option if the encoded text lives at a web address rather than in your clipboard. A character counter next to each box shows how much text is currently in it.

What the encoded pieces mean

Decoding simply maps percent-encoded sequences back to the characters they stand for. The common ones:

So a query string like search%3Fq%3Durl%2Bdecoder decodes to search?q=url+decoder, which you can read and edit directly.

Decoding multiple lines at once

If your input contains one encoded entry per line — for example a list of tracking links or redirect targets exported from a spreadsheet — enable Decode each line separately before decoding. Each line is then treated as its own URL instead of the whole block being processed as one string. The decoded lines appear in Decoded Result, where you can review them and copy or download the set.

This matters because a multi-line block pasted as a single string would otherwise be decoded as one continuous value, and line breaks or separators could be misread.

Re-encoding when you need to go back

The page includes an Encode action alongside the decoder. Use it when you have edited a decoded URL and need to turn it back into a percent-encoded form for use in a browser request, API call, redirect, or form submission. Encoding is what keeps characters like /, :, ?, and & from being misread as URL structure rather than data.

Common snags

• Result looks unchanged. The input may not actually contain percent-encoded sequences, or it may already be in readable form.
• Only part of a multi-line block converted. Check that Decode each line separately is enabled.
• A decoded URL still fails in the browser. Decoding makes a URL readable; it does not fix a malformed link. Compare the decoded output against the original to spot missing or doubled characters.
• Special characters reappear as %XX after encoding. That is expected — encoding deliberately converts those characters so the URL transmits correctly.