What are HTML entities?

HTML entities are special character representations using & followed by a name or number and ending with ;. For example, & represents &, < represents <, and represents a non-breaking space.

Why do I need to encode HTML entities?

Characters like , and & have special meaning in HTML. To display them as literal characters in content, they must be encoded as entities (<, >, &) so browsers don't interpret them as HTML.

What is XSS and how does HTML encoding prevent it?

XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) is an attack where malicious JavaScript is injected into web pages. HTML entity encoding user input ensures are displayed as characters, not interpreted as script tags.

What is the difference between named and numeric entities?

Named entities use a short name (& for &). Numeric entities use the character's Unicode code point (& or & for &). Both are equivalent — named entities are more readable.

When should I decode HTML entities?

Decode when extracting text from HTML for processing, displaying HTML content in non-HTML contexts, or debugging HTML that contains encoded content you need to read in plain form.

Text Utilities

Free

HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

Convert HTML special characters to entities (&, <, >) and decode entities back to characters.

Input

What is HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder?

The HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder converts special characters to their HTML entity equivalents (encoding) or converts HTML entities back to their original characters (decoding). For example, < becomes <, > becomes >, & becomes &, and © becomes ©.

HTML entity encoding is essential for displaying special characters in HTML without them being interpreted as HTML markup. Without encoding, a < character in text content could be misinterpreted as the start of an HTML tag, breaking the page display.

Why Use HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder?

Displaying user-generated content, code samples, or special characters in HTML without proper entity encoding creates XSS vulnerabilities and display errors. Entity encoding ensures characters are displayed correctly and prevents code injection in web applications.

Key Features of HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

✓Encodes HTML special characters to entity format
✓Decodes HTML entities to plain text characters
✓Handles all common HTML entities (&, <, >,  , etc.)
✓Supports numeric entity encoding (< for <)
✓One-click copy of encoded/decoded output

How to Use HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

1
Enter your text
Paste the text with special characters (to encode) or HTML entities (to decode).
2
Choose operation
Click 'Encode HTML Entities' or 'Decode HTML Entities'.
3
Review the output
See the encoded entities or decoded plain text.
4
Copy the result
Click 'Copy' to copy the output.
5
Use in your HTML
Paste the entity-encoded text into your HTML to display special characters safely.