What characters get encoded?

The five XML special characters are encoded: & becomes &, becomes >, double quote becomes ", and single quote becomes '.

Does it encode numeric HTML entities?

The decoder handles both named entities (&) and numeric entities (& and &). The encoder produces named entities for the five main characters.

Why do I need to encode HTML?

Encoding prevents your special characters from being interpreted as HTML tags. It is also a security measure to prevent XSS attacks when displaying user input.

Can I use this to safely display user content?

Yes. Encoding user-submitted content with this tool before displaying it in HTML prevents script injection attacks.

What characters get encoded?

The five XML special characters are encoded: & becomes &, becomes >, double quote becomes ", and single quote becomes '.

Does it encode numeric HTML entities?

The decoder handles both named entities (&) and numeric entities (& and &). The encoder produces named entities for the five main characters.

Why do I need to encode HTML?

Encoding prevents your special characters from being interpreted as HTML tags. It is also a security measure to prevent XSS attacks when displaying user input.

Can I use this to safely display user content?

Yes. Encoding user-submitted content with this tool before displaying it in HTML prevents script injection attacks.

Developer Tools

HTML Encoder/Decoder

Encode special characters to HTML entities or decode them back.

How to Use

Select encode or decode

Choose Encode to convert special characters to HTML entities, or Decode to convert entities back to characters.

Enter your content

Paste the text or HTML you want to convert.

View the instant result

The conversion happens in real time as you type.

Copy the output

Click Copy to use the result in your project.

About This Tool

Free Online HTML Encoder and Decoder

The Versatools HTML Encoder/Decoder converts special characters to HTML entities and back. Proper HTML encoding is essential for displaying special characters correctly in web pages and preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in web applications.

What are HTML Entities?

HTML entities are special codes that represent characters which have meaning in HTML syntax or cannot be typed directly. For example, the less-than sign (<) must be written as < in HTML to be displayed as text rather than interpreted as the start of an HTML tag. Ampersands become &, quotes become ", and so on.

Security and HTML Encoding

HTML encoding is a critical security practice in web development. When displaying user-submitted content on a web page, all special characters must be encoded to prevent XSS attacks. An unencoded less-than sign in user input could inject malicious script tags. Our HTML encoder helps developers ensure that user content is safely displayed without security risks.

Frequently Asked Questions

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