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HTML Encoder / Decoder

Encode and decode HTML entities for safe web output

Common HTML Entities
&amp; = & &lt; = < &gt; = > &quot; = " &apos; = ' &nbsp; = (space) &copy; = © &reg; = ® &trade; = ™ &mdash; = — &hellip; = … &rsquo; = ' &laquo; = « &raquo; = »
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What is HTML Encoder/Decoder?

Free HTML encoder and decoder. Convert special characters to HTML entities and decode HTML entities back to readable text. Developer utilities built for web developers, software engineers, and programmers. TekPulse's HTML Encoder/Decoder is completely free — no signup, no ads in results, and no data stored on our servers.

How to Use HTML Encoder/Decoder Online

  1. Paste the text or HTML string containing special characters into the input area
  2. Click "Encode" to convert characters like <, >, &, ", ' to HTML entities (&lt;, &gt;, &amp;, etc.)
  3. Click "Decode" to convert HTML entities back to their original characters
  4. Use this when inserting user-generated content into HTML to prevent XSS injection
  5. Copy the encoded output for safe use in your HTML template or CMS

HTML Encoder/Decoder Formula & Calculation

Unsafe/non-ASCII character → &#DD; (decimal numeric character reference) or named entity like &amp;, &lt;, &gt;, &quot;

HTML entity encoding replaces characters that are structurally significant in HTML (<, >, &, ", ') — or any character outside the printable ASCII range — with a reference the browser decodes back into the original character when rendering. A numeric reference &#DD; uses the character's Unicode code point in decimal; named references like &amp; are shorthand for the most common ones.

Example: <script>alert('hi')</script> encodes to &#60;script&#62;alert('hi')&#60;/script&#62; (or &lt;script&gt;... with named entities) — the browser now displays the literal text instead of executing it as markup.

Key Factors That Affect Your Result

  1. XSS prevention — Encoding user-supplied text before inserting it into HTML is the primary defense against stored/reflected cross-site scripting. Always encode on output, at the point text is written into HTML — not just on input.
  2. Context matters — HTML entity encoding protects HTML body content but is not sufficient inside HTML attributes, <script> blocks, or CSS — those need their own escaping rules (attribute encoding, JS string encoding, CSS encoding respectively).
  3. Double-encoding — Encoding text that's already entity-encoded turns &amp; into &amp;amp;, which then displays literally as "&amp;" instead of "&" — decode once before re-encoding.

Why Use TekPulse HTML Encoder/Decoder?

Runs Entirely in Your Browser
Entity encoding and decoding use the DOM's built-in textarea trick — nothing is sent anywhere
Encode & Decode HTML Entities
Convert special characters to safe entities, or decode entities back to readable text
Live HTML Preview
Paste raw HTML and see it rendered instantly in a preview pane
Common Entity Reference
Click-to-copy cheat sheet of frequently used entities like &, © and —

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Frequently Asked Questions

HTML encoding converts special characters into HTML entities so they display correctly in browsers. < becomes &lt;, > becomes &gt;, & becomes &amp;, " becomes &quot;. This prevents browsers from interpreting them as HTML tags.

Without HTML encoding, user-submitted text containing <script> tags can execute JavaScript in other users' browsers — this is called XSS (Cross-Site Scripting). Always encode user input before displaying in HTML.

HTML encoding makes text safe for display inside HTML documents (converts < to &lt;). URL encoding makes text safe for use in URLs (converts spaces to %20). They are different and used in different contexts.

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