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HTML Entity Encoder online

Encode text to HTML entities and decode HTML entities back to text.

HTML Entity Encoder logo
by
CHUNKY
MUNSTER
HTML ENTITY ENCODER / DECODER

Common HTML Entities

Using the Advanced HTML Character Map

  1. Paste your text into the input area.
  2. Click Encode to convert all five XSS-relevant characters to HTML entities.
  3. Enable "encode all non-ASCII" to also convert accented and special characters.
  4. Switch to Decode mode to recover original text from HTML-encoded input.

HTML Entity Encoder is a robust developer tool for managing special characters in web applications. HTML character codes allow for the safe representation of symbols that would otherwise conflict with HTML syntax. This HTML special characters utility provides both named entity references and numeric character references, ensuring that your content renders correctly across all browsers and platforms while maintaining maximum security against injection attacks.

Named and Numeric Entity References

Professional web development requires precise control over character encoding. This escape characters tool helps you identify the correct HTML5 entities for complex symbols, from mathematical operators to international currency signs. By using a character encoder online, you can quickly sanitize input for database storage or CMS templates. Whether you need the named reference © or the decimal version ©, our encoder provides instant results for over 2,000 distinct character mappings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is HTML encoding sufficient to prevent all XSS?

It prevents the most common vector but context matters. HTML entity encoding is correct for HTML body content. In JavaScript contexts, you need JavaScript escaping. In URL attributes, URL encoding. In CSS, CSS escaping. Use a context-aware sanitiser library for robust XSS prevention.

Why must & be encoded first?

If you encode < to &lt; first and then encode &, you would double-encode to &amp;lt;. Always encode the ampersand before other characters to avoid this.

Should I encode apostrophes?

Always encode apostrophes (') when the text appears inside a single-quoted HTML attribute. In HTML body text, apostrophes are safe without encoding, but encoding them defensively does no harm.

What is the difference between this and URL encoding?

HTML entity encoding is for text inside HTML markup. URL encoding (percent-encoding) is for query parameters and URL path segments. < in HTML becomes &lt;; in a URL it becomes %3C. Both represent the same character, but they are incompatible encoding schemes.

Explore our other encoding tools like the HTML Decoder, HTML Encoder, and the HTML Formatter. Bookmark this page for the next time you need a fast and accurate HTML Entity Encoder.

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