It's a percent-encoded space. The two hex digits after % are the byte value: 20 in hex is 32, the code for a space.

Why do I see %25 in my URL?

%25 is an encoded percent sign. Seeing %2520 usually means something was encoded twice. Decode it twice to get back to the original.

Why does decoding fail?

Either a % isn't followed by two hex digits, or the bytes don't form valid UTF-8 (often because the text was encoded with an older character set like Latin-1). The error shows where.

Is my URL sent anywhere?

No. Everything happens in your browser; we never see the links you paste.

URL Encoder / Decoder

Percent-encode text for URLs or decode it back, including emoji and non-Latin scripts.

Processed locally

Text

Encoded

Use Component for a single query value; Full URL to fix spaces and accents in a whole link.

Instructions

How to use it

01Pick Encode or Decode.
02Choose Component for a single value (like a search term) or Full URL for a whole link.
03Type or paste. The result updates as you type, and full URLs are broken down into host, path and parameters.
04Copy the result, or press Swap to reverse it.

About

What it does

URLs can only contain a limited set of characters. Everything else (spaces, accents, emoji, and characters with special meaning like &, ? and #) has to be percent-encoded, so a space becomes %20 and "é" becomes %C3%A9.

This tool encodes and decodes using UTF-8, exactly like JavaScript's encodeURIComponent and encodeURI. When decoding fails, it tells you which sequence is broken instead of just giving up.

Settings explained

Component vs Full URL: Component encodes everything except letters, digits and - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ). Full URL keeps : / ? # & = intact so the link still works.
Spaces as +: HTML forms encode spaces as + in query strings. Enable this to produce or read that style.

Good for

Building a query string with values that contain & or =
Reading the real parameters inside a long tracking link
Fixing links with spaces or accented characters
Debugging double-encoded URLs (%2520)

Questions, answered

What does %20 mean?: It's a percent-encoded space. The two hex digits after % are the byte value: 20 in hex is 32, the code for a space.
Why do I see %25 in my URL?: %25 is an encoded percent sign. Seeing %2520 usually means something was encoded twice. Decode it twice to get back to the original.
Why does decoding fail?: Either a % isn't followed by two hex digits, or the bytes don't form valid UTF-8 (often because the text was encoded with an older character set like Latin-1). The error shows where.
Is my URL sent anywhere?: No. Everything happens in your browser; we never see the links you paste.

All encoding tools (3)