HTML Encoder & Decoder
Encode HTML special characters into entities, or decode HTML entities back into readable text — paste your input, choose a mode, and see the result update live.
- Input Characters
- 0
- Output Characters
- 0
CleanTextly's HTML Encoder & Decoder converts HTML special characters into HTML entities, and decodes HTML entities back into readable text — entirely in your browser. HTML encoding (also called HTML escaping) replaces characters like <, >, &, and " with safe entity codes such as <, >, &, and " so they display as literal text instead of being interpreted as markup. Decoding reverses the process, turning named entities like ©, decimal codes like ©, and hex codes like © back into their original characters.
Features
Encode HTML Special Characters
Escapes <, >, &, ", and ' into their entity equivalents, e.g. `<div>` becomes `<div>`, so HTML-sensitive text can be safely displayed as plain text.
Decode Named, Decimal & Hex Entities
Decodes named entities like & and ©, decimal entities like ©, and hexadecimal entities like ©, back into their original characters — including mixed content with several entity types at once.
No Double-Encoding
Recognizes text that's already a valid entity and leaves it alone, so encoding "&" doesn't turn it into "&amp;" — only genuinely unescaped ampersands are encoded.
Unicode & Emoji Safe
Encodes and decodes correctly alongside Unicode text and emoji, so multi-byte characters pass through unchanged instead of breaking.
Displayed as Text, Never Rendered
Input and output are always shown as plain text, never interpreted as live HTML — pasting a <script> tag displays it as text and never executes it.
100% Private
Everything runs locally in your browser. Your HTML is never uploaded, logged, or stored anywhere.
How to Use
- 1
Paste your HTML or entities
Add the HTML/text you want to encode, or the HTML entities you want to decode, into the input box.
- 2
Choose Encode or Decode
Select Encode to convert special characters into HTML entities, or Decode to convert entities back into readable text.
- 3
Review the live output
The result updates instantly as you type — there's no button to click or page to reload.
- 4
Copy, swap, or download
Copy the result to your clipboard, use Swap to reverse the operation, or download it as a .txt file.
Example
Encoding an HTML Snippet
Input
<div class="test">Hello & welcome</div>
Output
<div class="test">Hello & welcome</div>
Common Use Cases
Escaping User-Generated Content
Encode text before displaying it inside an HTML page, so characters like < and & can't be mistaken for markup.
Decoding API or Database Output
Decode HTML entities that come back from an API response or database export, turning & and < back into readable & and <.
Debugging HTML Snippets
Encode a snippet of HTML so you can display and inspect its exact markup as visible text instead of having the browser render it.
Preparing Text for HTML Documents
Encode plain text containing quotes, ampersands, or angle brackets before embedding it in an HTML document or template.
Frequently Asked Questions
HTML encoding — also called HTML escaping — replaces characters that have special meaning in HTML, like <, >, and &, with entity codes such as <, >, and &, so they display as literal text instead of being interpreted as markup.
HTML decoding is the reverse of encoding: it converts HTML entities — named (&), decimal (&), or hexadecimal (&) — back into the original characters they represent.
HTML entities are text sequences, starting with & and ending with ;, that represent a character that would otherwise be difficult or unsafe to include directly in HTML — for example © for ©, or © and © for the same character using decimal and hex character codes.
The characters with special meaning in HTML markup are the ones that most need escaping: & (as &), < (as <), > (as >), " (as "), and ' (as ') — especially inside attribute values or anywhere user-provided text is displayed.
& is the HTML entity for the ampersand character (&). It exists because a literal & can start an entity reference, so a standalone ampersand is normally escaped to & to avoid ambiguity.
Paste your HTML or text into the input box and select Encode — CleanTextly instantly converts special characters into HTML entities, right in your browser, with no upload required.
Paste text containing HTML entities into the input box and select Decode — named, decimal, and hexadecimal entities are converted back into their original characters instantly.
HTML encoding escapes characters that have special meaning inside HTML markup, like <, >, and &, using entities such as < and &. URL encoding (percent-encoding) escapes characters that aren't allowed in a URL, like spaces, using %-prefixed codes such as %20 — it's a different encoding for a different context. Use CleanTextly's URL Encoder & Decoder for URLs and query parameters.