Decode a percent-encoded URL or query string.
Free to use, no sign-up required. URL Decode is one of 198 tools built into Xenition, alongside a chat that can use them for you.
Turns a percent-encoded URL or query string back into readable text, for example to read a tracking link, a search query or a redirect parameter.
Every plus sign is first turned into a space, as HTML forms encode spaces that way. The result is then passed to JavaScript’s decodeURIComponent, which turns each %XX sequence back into its byte and reads the bytes as UTF-8. A % not followed by two hex digits, or bytes that are not valid UTF-8, makes the whole input invalid.
q=caf%C3%A9+au+lait%21&x=%2B1 decodes to q=café au lait!&x=+1. %C3%A9 is the two UTF-8 bytes of é, and %2B is a real plus sign.
Plus signs are read as form-encoded spaces. A literal plus should be written as %2B, which decodes to + and is not changed.
The string was encoded twice, so %20 was stored as %2520. The tool decodes one level; paste the output back in to decode the second level.
You do not have to open URL Decode to use it. Ask Xenition in plain language and it runs the right tool, then carries the answer into whatever you are working on — a document, a spreadsheet, a deck.