Why do I need to encode HTML entities?

Without encoding, characters like & in content can break HTML structure or create XSS security vulnerabilities. Always encode user-supplied content before inserting it into HTML.

What are the most important HTML entities?

& → &, → >, " → ", ' → '. These five cover the most common XSS attack vectors.

What's the difference between & and &?

& is a named entity for the ampersand. & is the decimal numeric reference for the same character (Unicode code point 38). & is the hexadecimal version. All three render identically in browsers.

Should I use named or numeric entities?

Use named entities (&, <, >) for readability when available. Numeric entities are useful for characters without a named form, or when you need hex encoding.

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HTML Entity Encoder / Decoder

Encode special characters to HTML entities and decode entities back to plain text — supports named and numeric entities.

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About this tool

Convert text with special characters (&, <, >, ", ') to safe HTML entities for embedding in web pages, and decode HTML entity strings back to readable text. Supports named entities (&), decimal (&), and hexadecimal (&) encoding.

How to use

1 Choose Encode or Decode mode.
2 Paste your text into the input field.
3 Select encoding style: named entities, decimal, or hexadecimal.
4 Click Copy to copy the result.

Frequently Asked Questions

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