Encode or decode URL components
The MailDrop URL encoder and decoder converts text to and from percent-encoded form instantly in your browser. Paste plain text into the top box and click Encode to get a URL-safe string, or paste an encoded string into the bottom box and click Decode to recover the original. The tool uses the standard encodeURIComponent and decodeURIComponent functions, so the output behaves exactly as browsers and web servers expect.
Percent encoding matters whenever data travels inside a URL. Spaces, ampersands, question marks, non-Latin characters, and symbols all have special meaning in web addresses, and passing them unencoded breaks query strings, corrupts form submissions, and causes subtle bugs in APIs and tracking links. Decoding is just as useful: it lets you inspect what a long, obfuscated link actually contains before you click it, which is a simple but effective privacy habit.
Everything runs locally on your device, so the text you encode or decode never touches our servers. The tool is free with no registration, and it sits alongside MailDrop temporary email as part of a toolkit for browsing and testing the web with less exposure.
Enter plain text in the upper box if you want to encode it, or paste a percent-encoded string in the lower box if you want to decode it. Either direction works from the same page.
Press Encode to convert plain text into its URL-safe form, or Decode to translate an encoded string back to readable text. Invalid encoded input is detected and reported rather than producing garbage output.
The converted text appears immediately in the opposite box. Check that reserved characters like spaces, slashes, and ampersands were handled the way your query string or API call requires.
Use the Copy Result button to place the encoded string on your clipboard, ready to paste into a URL, an HTTP client, a redirect parameter, or your application code.
URL encoding, also called percent encoding, replaces characters that are unsafe or reserved in web addresses with a percent sign followed by their hexadecimal code. A space becomes %20, for example. Without it, characters like ampersands or question marks would be misread as URL structure instead of data, breaking links and query parameters.
No. Encoding and decoding are performed entirely by JavaScript running in your browser. Nothing you type or paste is transmitted, stored, or logged. You can confirm this by loading the page and then disconnecting from the internet; the tool keeps working.
This tool uses component encoding, which escapes reserved characters like slashes, colons, and ampersands. That is what you want when encoding a single query parameter value. If you encoded an entire URL this way, its structure would be escaped too, so encode individual pieces rather than complete addresses.
Yes. Phishing and tracking links often hide their real destination behind layers of percent encoding. Pasting an encoded link here reveals the readable text underneath, letting you see redirect targets or embedded email addresses before visiting anything. It is a quick sanity check that costs nothing.
Links in marketing and verification emails frequently carry encoded parameters that identify you. Reading such mail in a MailDrop disposable email inbox, and decoding any link you are unsure about first, keeps your primary address out of tracking systems while still letting you complete signups on your own terms.