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Why Use Utiliti's URL Tool?

URLs often contain sensitive information—authentication tokens, API keys, user IDs, session parameters, or tracking data. Many online URL encoders send your URLs to their servers for processing, potentially exposing this sensitive data.

Utiliti's URL encoder and decoder runs entirely in your browser. Your URLs never leave your device, making it safe to work with:

  • OAuth Callbacks: URLs containing authorization codes or tokens
  • API Endpoints: URLs with API keys or authentication parameters
  • Tracking URLs: Marketing URLs with campaign data you want to inspect
  • Debug URLs: URLs from error logs that may contain user data

Features

  • View: Parse any URL into its components (protocol, host, path, query parameters, fragment) displayed in an interactive tree view
  • Encode: Convert special characters to percent-encoded format for safe URL transmission
  • Decode: Convert percent-encoded URLs back to human-readable format
  • Auto-detection: Automatically detects if input is already encoded and handles it appropriately

How to Use

  1. Paste your URL: Enter any URL—encoded or decoded—into the input field
  2. Choose an action: Click View to parse it, Encode to percent-encode it, or Decode to convert it back to readable text
  3. Copy the result: Use the copy button to grab your processed URL

What is a URL?

A URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is a reference or address used to access resources on the internet. It's a string of characters that provides a way to identify and locate a particular resource, such as a web page, document, image, or any other file, on the World Wide Web.

A standard URL consists of several components:

  1. Scheme: The scheme indicates the protocol used to access the resource. Common schemes include "http", "https", "ftp", and "mailto". For example, in the URL "https://www.example.com", "https" is the scheme.
  2. Hostname: The hostname identifies the domain name or IP address of the server hosting the resource. In the URL "https://www.example.com", "www.example.com" is the hostname.
  3. Port: The port number, if specified, indicates the specific port on the server to connect to. The default ports are often assumed if not explicitly mentioned (e.g., 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS).
  4. Path: The path specifies the location or route to the specific resource on the server. In the URL "https://www.example.com/path/to/resource", "/path/to/resource" is the path.
  5. Query Parameters: Query parameters are additional information sent to the server, often in the form of key-value pairs, to modify the request or provide additional data. They appear after a question mark (?) in the URL. For example, in the URL "https://www.example.com/search?q=query", "?q=query" represents the query parameter.
  6. Fragment: The fragment, indicated by a hash (#) symbol, specifies a specific section within the resource. It is often used in web pages to navigate to a particular section. For example, in the URL "https://www.example.com/page#section", "#section" is the fragment.

Here's an example of a complete URL:

https://www.example.com:8080/path/to/resource?param1=value1&param2=value2#section

In this example:

  • Scheme: "https"
  • Hostname: "www.example.com"
  • Port: "8080"
  • Path: "/path/to/resource"
  • Query Parameters: "param1=value1" and "param2=value2"
  • Fragment: "section"

URLs are used in web browsers to access websites, and they are also utilized in various internet protocols and applications for resource identification and retrieval.

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding, also known as percent-encoding, is a mechanism for encoding special characters in a URL. Since URLs can only contain a limited set of characters (letters, digits, and a few special characters), any other characters must be encoded.

For example, a space becomes %20, an ampersand becomes %26, and a question mark becomes %3F. This ensures that URLs remain valid and can be transmitted correctly across the internet.

Common Use Cases

  • Debugging API Calls: Decode URLs from network logs to see what parameters were actually sent
  • Building Query Strings: Properly encode parameter values before constructing URLs
  • Analyzing Redirects: Parse complex redirect URLs to understand the flow
  • Inspecting Deep Links: Break down mobile app deep links to understand their structure
  • Fixing Broken URLs: Identify encoding issues in URLs that aren't working correctly

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