What is URL encoding? Why spaces and special characters become % codes

Why do percent signs appear in a copied link?

URLs use reserved characters to separate the scheme, path, query and fragment. Spaces, non-Latin text and some symbols inside a search value may be percent-encoded so browsers and servers interpret the same bytes.

In https://example.com/search?q=서울 맛집, the query value can become %EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%20%EB%A7%9B%EC%A7%91.

What do %20, %2F and %3F mean?

The two digits after % are a byte written in hexadecimal. A space commonly becomes %20, / becomes %2F and ? becomes %3F. UTF-8 Korean and other Unicode characters use several bytes, so one character can produce several %xx groups.

Encode versus decode

Encode turns readable input into a URL-safe representation. Decode restores percent-encoded text so a person can inspect it.

서울 맛집

%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%20%EB%A7%9B%EC%A7%91

Do not encode a complete URL as one value

Characters such as https://, ?, &, = and # define a URL's structure. Encoding all of them can turn a working link into plain text. Usually you encode an individual query value; use the preserve-URL-structure option when the input is a complete URL.

Common reasons to decode a URL

• Inspect a long link copied from chat
• Read a search term in a shared result URL
• Check UTM and query parameter values
• Understand an API request URL
• See whether a space was represented as %20 or +

Use the Only My Kit URL tools

Paste a string or URL, choose Encode or Decode, select text/query value or preserve URL structure, then copy the result.

The tool uses browser URL and encoding APIs on your current device; the input is not sent to a server.

1. Paste the text or URL.
2. Choose Encode or Decode.
3. Choose the correct scope.
4. Review and copy the result.

Encoding is not encryption

Anyone can decode percent-encoded text. Encoding an email address, user ID or personal data does not conceal it. Base64 is also a reversible representation rather than encryption; avoid putting secrets in URLs.