HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder Online — Free Encode & Decode HTML Entities
HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder
Encode and decode HTML entities with named, numeric, and hex modes.
Free online HTML entities encoder and decoder. Encode special characters to HTML entities for safe display in HTML documents, or decode HTML entities back to regular characters. Supports four encoding modes: named entities (&, <, etc.), numeric decimal (&#nnn;), numeric hex (&#xnn;), and minimal encoding for essential characters only. Browse a searchable table of 100+ common HTML entities organized by category — basic symbols, punctuation, math, arrows, currency, and Greek letters. Search by entity name, character, description, or code point. Runs entirely in your browser — no data is ever sent to a server.
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Tags: html, entities, encode, decode, entity, special-characters
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How to HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder Online
Paste or type your text into the input area on the left.
Choose your action: Encode to convert special characters to HTML entities, or Decode to convert entities back to characters.
Select your encoding mode: Named Entities (like &) for maximum readability, Decimal Numbers (like &) for universal compatibility, or Hexadecimal (like &) for compact representation.
Click Process or press ⌘↵ (Mac) / Ctrl+Enter (Windows) to convert your text instantly.
Browse the Entity Reference Table to search and explore all 2,100+ HTML5 entities by name, character, or category.
Copy the result with ⌘⇧C, or share via a gzip-compressed shareable URL.
HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder Features
Encode special characters to HTML entities: converts &, <, >, " and ' to their named or numeric entity equivalents.
Decode HTML entities back to characters: converts &, &, & and 2,100+ other named entities to readable text.
3 encoding modes: Named Entities (&) for readability, Decimal Numbers (&) for compatibility, Hexadecimal (&) for compactness.
Full Unicode support: encode any Unicode character including emoji, CJK characters, mathematical symbols, and accented letters.
Auto-detect mode: automatically identifies whether your input contains entities to decode or special characters to encode.
Entity Reference Table: searchable, filterable table of all 2,100+ HTML5 entities grouped by category (symbols, punctuation, accented letters, Greek, mathematical).
Entity search: type any character, entity name, or code point to find matching entities instantly.
Category filters: show only Symbols, Punctuation, Letters, Diacritics, Greek, or Mathematical entities.
Per-entity copy: click any entity in the reference table to copy just that entity to your clipboard.
Encode all mode: converts every non-ASCII character to numeric entities for maximum compatibility with legacy systems.
Smart encode mode: only converts characters that require escaping in HTML (&, <, >, "), leaving regular text untouched.
Character analysis: shows Unicode block, category, and code point for any character.
Batch processing: encode or decode multiple lines of text at once.
Shareable URLs: gzip-compresses your input and settings into a URL for sharing with teammates.
Works entirely in your browser — no text is ever sent to any server. Your content stays completely private.
Keyboard shortcuts: ⌘↵ to process, ⌘⇧C to copy, ⌘⇧K to clear.
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Related Standards & RFC Specifications
All StandardsHTML is the standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications, structuring content through semantic elements and the DOM.
HTML entities are coded character strings starting with an ampersand and ending with a semicolon used to render reserved and special characters in HTML.
URL encoding (percent-encoding) is an RFC 3986 mechanism that converts reserved or unsafe characters in a URI into a percent sign followed by two hex digits.
XML is a flexible, tag-based markup language standardized by the W3C for storing and transporting structured, machine-parseable hierarchical data.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are HTML entities?
- HTML entities are codes used to represent special characters in HTML that would otherwise be interpreted as HTML syntax. For example, < represents < and & represents &. They ensure that browsers display special characters correctly rather than parsing them as HTML tags or attributes. Entities can be named ("), decimal ("), or hexadecimal (").
- Is this HTML entities tool free?
- Yes, DevFlow HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder is completely free with no usage limits. All encoding and decoding runs directly in your browser — no account or signup required.
- Is my data safe?
- All processing happens entirely in your browser using pure JavaScript. No text is ever transmitted to a server or stored anywhere outside your browser. Your content stays completely private on your machine.
- What is the difference between named, decimal, and hex entities?
- Named entities use descriptive codes like & (ampersand) and < (less-than). They are the most readable but only a limited set is defined. Decimal entities use base-10 numbers like & — universally supported but less readable. Hexadecimal entities use base-16 like & — compact and widely supported. All three represent the same character.
- When should I use HTML entities?
- Use HTML entities when inserting special characters into HTML documents: & in text (&), < in code examples (<), > closing brackets (>), " quotes in attribute values ("), and ' apostrophes ('). Also use entities for accented characters (é → é) when your document encoding doesn't support them directly.
- What is the difference between Encode and Encode All?
- Smart Encode (default) only converts characters that are reserved in HTML (&, <, >, ", ') — leaving regular letters, numbers, and punctuation untouched. Encode All converts every non-ASCII character to numeric entities — useful for maximum compatibility with legacy systems or when you need to guarantee that output contains no special Unicode characters.
- How many HTML entities are there?
- HTML5 defines over 2,100 named entities, including all standard Latin letters with diacritics, Greek letters, mathematical symbols, currency symbols, punctuation marks, and more. The Entity Reference Table in this tool lets you browse and search all of them.
- Can I decode numeric entities to their character?
- Yes. The Decode action converts any numeric entity (decimal or hexadecimal) back to its Unicode character. For example, 😀 decodes to 😀. It also decodes named entities like to the non-breaking space character.
- Does it handle emoji and Unicode?
- Yes. Emoji and other Unicode characters outside ASCII can be encoded to numeric entities. For example, 😀 becomes 😀 or 😀. The Entity Reference Table includes emoji and other non-BMP characters with their code points.
- Does it work offline?
- Yes. All encoding, decoding, and entity reference data is bundled with the page as pure JavaScript. Once the page has loaded, the HTML Entities tool works without an internet connection.