Mojibuster

Decode URL-encoded characters: %C3%A9 becomes é

Does your text show %C3%A9 instead of é, or %20 instead of spaces? That is URL encoding, also called percent-encoding. Paste the text above – Mojibuster turns the codes into real characters instantly, without any upload.

Works with text and these files:

  • CSV
  • TXT
  • JSON
  • XML
  • SRT
  • VTT
  • SMI
  • TSV
  • MD
  • HTML
  • SQL
  • LOG

For example Excel exports, database dumps, subtitles or website code.

Repair

  1. Drop a file or paste text
  2. It gets repaired automatically
  3. Copy or download
or simply drag a file here

How URL encoding works

Web addresses only allow a small set of characters: unaccented letters, digits and a few punctuation marks. Everything else is encoded. In UTF-8, é consists of the two bytes C3 and A9, so it becomes %C3%A9. A space becomes %20, or + in form data.

What URL-encoded text looks like – and how it reads again.

URL-encoded

Caf%C3%A9 in Z%C3%BCrich

Decoded

Café in Zürich

The most common URL codes

  • %C3%A9 = é, %C3%A8 = è, %C3%A0 = à, %C3%A7 = ç
  • %C3%BC = ü, %C3%B6 = ö, %C3%B1 = ñ, %C3%9F = ß
  • %E2%82%AC = €, %E2%80%99 = ’, %E2%80%93 = –
  • %20 = space, %2F = /, %3F = ?, %26 = &, %25 = %

Older systems encode accents as a single Windows-1252 byte: caf%E9 instead of caf%C3%A9. Mojibuster recognizes that too and turns it into café.

Where URL-encoded text comes from

  • Copied links: The browser shows wikipedia.org/wiki/Zürich nicely, but copying often puts Z%C3%BCrich on the clipboard.
  • Forms and tracking: Search terms and UTM parameters are stored encoded in server logs and analytics exports, such as ?q=caf%C3%A9.
  • Exports and APIs: Some newsletter tools, webhooks and APIs store field values URL-encoded – your CSV file then shows codes instead of names.
  • File names: Downloads are named Invoice%20Jos%C3%A9.pdf when the server does not decode the name.

Codes and broken characters at once

Sometimes text is broken twice: %C3%83%C2%A9 is a URL-encoded é – an accent that was first misread and then encoded. Mojibuster decodes the codes first and then repairs the mojibake. You end up with é again.

The option Also convert codes is already switched on on this page. It also converts HTML codes (é), e-mail codes (=C3=A9, typical for Outlook) and escape sequences from program code (\u00e9).

Decode it yourself in Excel, JavaScript, Python and PHP

  • Excel: There is ENCODEURL, but no function to reverse it. The easiest way: copy the column, paste it here, copy the result back.
  • JavaScript: decodeURIComponent("caf%C3%A9") returns café.
  • Python: urllib.parse.unquote("caf%C3%A9"), or unquote_plus for form data with + as space – more in Python and pandas.
  • PHP: rawurldecode(), or urldecode() for form data.

Frequently asked questions

What does %C3%A9 mean?

It is é in URL encoding: the two UTF-8 bytes C3 and A9, each with a % in front. Likewise, %C3%BC stands for ü and %C3%B1 for ñ.

What does %20 mean?

A space. Form data often uses + instead. Mojibuster leaves + alone, because in normal text it can be a real plus sign.

Are my links uploaded?

No. The conversion runs entirely in your browser. Links with tokens, e-mail addresses or other personal data never leave your device.

Why does 100% stay unchanged?

Mojibuster only converts sequences that result in a real special character. 100%, 50 % or a single %20 in otherwise normal text stay as they are.

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