What This Tool Does
This tool works as both an html entity encoder and an html entity decoder: it converts characters that have special meaning in HTML, like &, <, and >, into their entity form so they display correctly instead of being interpreted as markup, and converts entities back to the original characters, so you can encode html entities online or decode html entities online in the same panel. It handles named entities like & and ©, decimal entities like é, and hexadecimal entities like é in both directions, acting as a general html special characters converter.
How to Encode or Decode HTML Entities
Choose Encode or Decode from the toolbar, then paste your text into the left panel, the converted result appears on the right, updating live as you type. Use Swap to send the output back into the input and flip direction, handy for checking that encoding then decoding returns the original text.
Using the Common Entities Reference
The reference strip below the panels lists 28 commonly used entities, structural characters like < and ", currency symbols, typographic marks like em dash and ellipsis, and math symbols like × and ±. Click any chip to insert that character (in Encode mode) or its entity (in Decode mode) directly into the input, useful when you need a specific entity but don't remember its exact name.
Reading the Highlighted Entities
Named entities like & are highlighted in one color, decimal entities like é in another, and hexadecimal entities like é in a third, making it easy to spot which kind of entity appears where in a block of encoded or decoded text at a glance.
Common Uses for an HTML Entity Converter
Escaping user-generated text before inserting it into HTML so it can't be misinterpreted as markup, decoding entity-encoded text copied from a web page or API response back into readable characters, and looking up the correct entity code for a special character like an em dash or copyright symbol are all common reasons to use an HTML entity converter. Use it to convert text to html entities, escape html characters online, decode html special characters, or as a quick html entity reference table and html entities converter whenever you need the exact entity for a symbol.