How to URL-Encode Text (Percent-Encoding Explained)

A search query with spaces in it, a value containing an ampersand or question mark that would otherwise break a URL's structure, non-English text going into a query parameter — URL encoding (percent-encoding) is what makes arbitrary text safe to embed inside a URL without corrupting it.

Why URLs Need Encoding at All

A URL has structural characters with specific meanings — ? starts the query string, & separates parameters, / separates path segments, %20 (not a literal space) represents a space. If the value you're putting into a URL happens to contain any of those characters, or contains non-ASCII text a URL can't represent directly, it needs to be percent-encoded first: each problematic character gets replaced with % followed by its hex byte value. hello world becomes hello%20world; ? becomes %3F.

Component Encoding vs. Whole-URL Encoding

This is the detail that trips people up: QR Ivify's URL Encoder encodes text as a URL component — meaning it percent-encodes structural characters like /, :, and ? too, not just spaces and symbols. That's exactly right for a value going into a query parameter (?q=<encoded value>), but it's the wrong tool for encoding an entire, already-structured URL you want to keep navigable — encoding https://example.com as a component turns the whole thing into https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com, which is correct if that whole string is itself a value (like a redirect URL passed as a parameter), but not what you want if you're trying to "clean up" a URL you intend to visit directly.

Step by Step

1. Open the URL Encoder.
2. Paste text or a URL into the box.
3. Click "Encode."
4. Copy the percent-encoded result.

A Worked Example

Input: https://example.com/search?q=hello world

Output: https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dhello%20world

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this handle Unicode text correctly? Yes — non-English characters are percent-encoded correctly, the same way a browser encodes them.

Will this encode an entire URL, or just a value? It encodes the whole input as a single component — characters like / and : get encoded too, which is what you want for a query parameter value, not for a complete URL you want to keep navigable.

Does this upload my text anywhere? No. Encoding happens entirely in your browser.

Try It

Need to percent-encode a value for a URL? QR Ivify's free URL Encoder handles spaces, symbols, and Unicode correctly. Need to decode an encoded URL instead? Try URL Decoder. Encoding something else entirely? See Base64 Encoder.