HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

Securely convert special characters to HTML entities for safe display in browsers, or decode them back to plain text.

Input Text

Result

What are HTML Entities?

HTML Entities are strings of characters that browsers use to display reserved characters or symbols that cannot be easily typed on a keyboard. They start with an ampersand (`&`) and end with a semicolon (`;`).

For example, the less-than sign (`<`) is a reserved character in HTML because it is used to start a tag. To display it literally on a webpage, you must use the HTML entity `<`.

Security (XSS Protection)

Encoding user input is a fundamental security practice. By converting characters like `<` and `>` into entities, you prevent browsers from executing them as code, mitigating Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks.

Special Symbols

Entities allow you to display symbols like © (`©`), ™ (`™`), and € (`€`) consistently across all browsers and character sets.

Code Documentation

When writing technical blogs or documentation, you need to encode HTML snippets so they are displayed as text rather than being rendered by the browser as actual elements.

Non-ASCII Characters

While UTF-8 handles most characters, using HTML entities ensures that accented characters and foreign scripts are rendered correctly even if the file's encoding is misinterpreted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Named entities use descriptive words (e.g., `"` for `"`). Numeric entities use the character's Unicode code point (e.g., `"`). Named entities are easier to remember, but numeric entities cover every possible character.

No, you only need to encode characters that are reserved in HTML or those that might cause issues with character encoding. For security, always encode any untrusted data before echoing it into an HTML context.

Yes, you can paste entire HTML files or large blocks of code. The tool processes everything locally in your browser, so your data remains private and secure.

Decode when you need readable text again, such as editing CMS content or debugging encoded HTML output.

Proper context-aware escaping helps prevent XSS, but you should also validate input and follow secure coding best practices.

Yes, common entity encoding rules overlap for HTML and XML, especially for special characters like `&`, `<`, and `>`.

Yes. It preserves line breaks and general formatting while converting special characters.

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