Why URLs need encoding
Spaces, Unicode characters, ampersands, question marks, and other reserved characters can change a URL’s structure. Percent encoding represents their UTF-8 bytes safely.
Component versus full URL
This tool uses component encoding, which is appropriate for an individual query value or path segment. Encoding a complete URL also escapes its structural colon, slashes, and separators.
Example
The query value “red & blue” becomes red%20%26%20blue, preventing the ampersand from being interpreted as another parameter.