HTML Encoder Decoder - Escape & Unescape Entities
Convert special characters to HTML entities (<, &, "…) or turn entities back into readable text. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded or stored.
What HTML Encoding Does
HTML reserves characters like <, > and & for markup. To display them literally — or to safely embed user text inside a page — they must be written as entities: <, >, &, " and '. Encoding is also the standard defence against HTML injection when echoing untrusted input.
Encoding vs Decoding
- Encode — converts
& < > " 'into their named entities so markup displays as text. Characters outside basic ASCII are left as-is (modern UTF-8 pages don't need them escaped). - Decode — converts any entity (named like
é, decimal likeé, or hex likeé) back to its character, using the browser's own parser — so every entity a browser understands is supported.
Privacy
All conversion happens locally in your browser with JavaScript. Your text never leaves your device and disappears when you close the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do I need to encode HTML?
Which characters does the encoder convert?
Can the decoder handle every kind of entity?
Is my text sent to your server?
Is HTML encoding the same as URL encoding?
How this tool works: This tool runs in your browser and on our server in real time. Depending on the tool, results are computed directly from the input you provide or retrieved from live, authoritative data sources at the moment you run a lookup. We do not sell your data, and your lookups are kept private — any history shown here is stored only on your device.