URL encoding and decoding process is a mechanism to convert the URL link into an encoded format that involves addition of special character or ASCII codes and decoding involves the retrieval back of the address into a human readable format. To achieve the same, the articles sheds light on top 5 tools to decode URLs.
The process of URL encoding involves the conversion of characters into such format that can be transmitted over the internet and this can be achieved by using the ASCII codes. Since there are some characters besides ASCII, the whole URL needs to be converted into a valid ASCII code. This can be attained by URL encoding that involves the replacement of undesirable ASCII characters by % sign followed by two hexadecimal digits. Since there cannot be any space in the URL therefore it is mostly replaced by + operator or with %20 sign.
Similar to URL encoding, there is the concept of URL decoding where the URL is transformed into an address without special characters that makes it easier to understand. In simple words, URL decoding removes the hash sign or any other kind of special symbol from the URL. In this way, the URL becomes more readable and easy to interpret for human beings as well as for search engines. The description of top 5 free online URL decoders are given below.
LambdaTest Free Online URL Decoder
LambdaTest is one of the leading cloud-based test orchestration and execution platform that enable devs and testers perform manual and automation testing across numerous browsers, devices and operating systems. It provides support for various automated testing frameworks like Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Appium and more.
Being a testing platform, LambdaTest offers various free online tools for developers and programers to work with. LambdaTest has a large collection of freely online tools, libraries and utilities that proves helpful for the designers, developers and testers for their daily activities.
One of the free online tools of LambdaTest is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) decoder. The URL decoder of LambdaTest converts special Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) characters into a compatible and standard format of URL that can be utilized as a web page link. The importance of the URL decoder tool lies in the fact that it helps in hiding special characters in the web address. Thus, the URL decoder provides a kind of data abstraction for the content.
URL Decode and Encode
As the name denotes, URL Decode and Encode is an online tool that can be utilized for the purpose of decoding and encoding URL. The decoding of URL makes it easily understood and human readable. The portal comes up with a live mode. As soon as the option is turned on, the web browser’s built-in javascript functions decode the input data immediately. However, the live mode supports only UTF-8 character sets. The tool is helpful in decoding each line separately.
In order to ensure the integrity of data, all the whitespaces are stripped off from the input. The concept of integrity becomes quite important since it maintains the genuinity of the data. ‘URL Decode and Encode’ online tool ensures integrity i.e. promoting the security mechanism. The option is helpful when the client wants to decode multiple inputs simultaneoulsy separated by line breaks.
The online tool is safe and secure and supports SSL encryptions. SSL encryptions are considered very safe for encoding mechanisms. The utilization of SSL ensures the safety and security of data in the process of encoding and decoding. Also, the online tool is completely free to use and does not require any kind of registration or sign up.
URLDecoder.io
URL Decoder is one of the online tools that is helpful in decoding URLs. The input can be provided by copy paste method or either by typing the text. The tool will automatically decode the input data. In case the input is invalid, the output area turns red. The output area offers the option of copying the text. This facility of change of color in case of any invalid input is not available in any other platform. Thus, it can be said that the online platform is interactive and promotes customizing behavior.
Further, the online portal also comes up with a guide on how to decode URLs with a blog section link. The documentation of any product is a guide on how to operate or handle the tool for the best and efficient results. LambdaTest, one of the online platforms (discussed above) also provides the best documentation guide to handle the tool.
The online portal is completely free for use and does not require any kind of registration or subscription for the service. The server communication is secure and safe. However, the online interface is quite dull. The platform could be more interactive by providing real time processing and by providing support for UTF-8 character sets.
RapidTables
RapidTables is an online platform that offers multiple online services. One of the services offered by RapidTables is the URL decoding process. The interface is interactive and user-friendly in nature. Starting at the top, the platform offers a text area for encoded URL text followed by a caption of replacement of ‘+’ sign with spaces after ‘?’. Below it, there are tabs available for ‘Decode’, ‘Reset’ and ‘Swap’. Further, the interface offers explanations of the URL encoding and decoding process. The documentation explanation along with the interactive interface makes the online portal very useful. The online portal is free to use, safe and secure for the users. The web portal does not require any kind of registration or sign up for the same.
CodeBeautify
CodeBeautify is an online platform that offers the service of URL decoding. The input can be either entered as text or can be attached as a file. The output can be visualized in the output window area. Further, the output can be directly copied to clipboard and also can be downloaded. Besides URL decoding, CodeBeautify also offers other online services like conversion of hexadecimal values to decimal values. The tool is very simple to use and interactive in nature. In terms of security, the tool is safe and secure. The tool also does not require any kind of registration or sign up to avail the service. To sum up, the tool is quite simple and easy to use but its simplicity sometimes becomes boring for the users.
Conclusion
To conclude, the various online tools as discussed above, each one is having their significant importance in the online URL decoding process. Among all the top online platforms discussed above, LambdaTest proved to be the best one. The services offered by LambdaTest are quite optimal and efficient in comparison to the services offered by other platforms. Although, other platforms like ‘URL Decode’ and ‘Encode’ offer tough competition but does not come parallel to LambdaTest. Thus, this article has placed LambdTest as the first choice for online decoding of URL. Rest, other platforms like ‘RapidTables’, ‘URLDecoder.io’ and ‘CodeBeautify’ can also be considered for the URL decoding purpose.
