HTML Entity Decoder
Encode and decode HTML entities instantly. Convert between special characters and entity references. All processing in your browser.
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How to Use HTML Entity Decoder
Choose mode
Select Encode to convert characters to entities, or Decode to convert entities back to characters.
Enter your text
Paste or type the text containing HTML entities or raw characters.
Get result
The converted result appears instantly. Copy it with one click.
What are HTML Entities?
HTML entities are special codes used to represent characters that have special meaning in HTML (like <, >, &) or characters that cannot be easily typed. They use the format &name; or &#number; or &#xhex;.
Types of HTML Entities
Named Entities
Use readable names like & for &, < for <, > for >, " for "
Decimal Numeric
Use decimal code points like & for &, < for <
Hexadecimal Numeric
Use hex code points like & for &, < for <
Frequently Asked Questions
Named entities use readable names like & for &. Numeric entities use decimal (&) or hexadecimal (&) code points. Both represent the same character.
Yes, the tool supports all standard HTML5 named character references including ©, €, —, and hundreds more.
Use entity encoding when embedding text in HTML that contains characters like <, >, &, or quotes that could be interpreted as markup.
The HTML5 specification (now the WHATWG Living Standard) defines 2231 named character references - a huge expansion over HTML 4.01's 252. They include symbols like © (copyright sign), € (euro sign), and ✓ (check mark). Every one of them also has a numeric equivalent, such as © or © for the copyright sign.
In HTML, escape < as <, > as >, and & as &, plus " as " inside attribute values. XML 1.0 predefines exactly five entities - those four plus ' - and HTML5 supports ' even though HTML 4 did not. Of these, & matters most: an unescaped ampersand followed by letters can be misread as the start of an entity.
Double encoding happens when already-encoded text is encoded again: & becomes & and then &amp;. The visible symptom is a literal & or & showing on the page. Fixing it means decoding exactly once at the boundary where the value enters HTML context - this tool lets you verify each pass separately.
They solve different problems. Percent-encoding (%20) is the URL standard from RFC 3986 and is what belongs inside href attributes; HTML entities (&) escape markup characters and only apply where the URL is embedded in HTML. A query value containing & and spaces typically needs both layers: spaces percent-encoded, and the separating & written as & in the markup.
Yes - the named character reference table has been fully implemented in all major browsers since around 2014, including the legacy entities without semicolons that HTML5 keeps for backwards compatibility. Numeric references (© or ©) are even safer, since they depend only on Unicode code points, not on a browser lookup table.
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Authoritative References
Primary sources behind this tool - official standards and specifications, not secondhand summaries.