HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

Encode text to HTML entities (named, numeric, or hex) or decode entities back to plain text — runs entirely in the browser.

HTML entity encoder / decoder

Empty

Paste HTML or text to encode entities. Flip to Decode to recover the original.

Input Paste HTML or text

0 chars

Output Encoded (named)

0 chars

Output will appear here

Type in the left pane or click Sample to see an example.

Size delta

— output − input

Type on the left to see how many entities get produced and the size change.

Input

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Output

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Entities

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Details

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Direction

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Entity type

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Input chars

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Output chars

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Input bytes (UTF-8)

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Output bytes (UTF-8)

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Entities produced

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Non-ASCII chars

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Size delta

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When to use each

Named entities (&, ©) are the most readable and survive well in source. Prefer them whenever you control the parser.

Decimal / Hex numeric entities (& / &) work for any code point — safest when the consumer's entity table is unknown. Decoding handles all three forms.

Entity reference

Click to insert

What is an HTML entity?

An HTML entity is a short code that stands in for a character the browser would otherwise try to interpret as markup. Writing < directly tells the parser a tag is starting; writing < tells it to render a literal < instead. Entities come in three flavours: named (<), decimal numeric (<) and hexadecimal numeric (<). All three decode to the same character.

CharacterNamedDecimalHexNotes

&&&&Always encode — it starts every entity

<<<<Encode in text; tag-opener

>>>>Safe in text; encode to be strict

""""Must encode inside double-quoted attributes

''''Must encode inside single-quoted attributes

————Em dash — typography

   Non-breaking space

In modern UTF-8 documents you only strictly need to encode the five structural characters (& < > " '). Encoding the rest is a matter of taste or a constraint from a consumer that can't safely handle non-ASCII bytes. When in doubt, switch to Non-ASCII only above — it keeps your HTML shape intact and only touches characters that genuinely need escaping.

HTML entity encoder / decoder

What is an HTML entity?

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