Why is HTML entity encoding critical for web security?

Encoding characters like helps browsers treat user input strictly as text rather than executable markup, neutralizing cross-site scripting (XSS) vectors.

What is the difference between named and numeric entities?

Named entities use mnemonic words (© for ©) defined in HTML specifications; numeric entities use exact Unicode code points (© or ©) recognized across all XML parsers.

Is my text data stored or shared?

No. All entity mapping and regex replacements run in local browser memory with zero network requests.

Free & Private Online Browser Utility

HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder

Encode special characters into safe HTML entities and decode character references back to plain text directly in your browser. Convert dangerous symbols (&, <, >, ", ') into named entities (&, <, >) or numeric decimal (<) and hexadecimal (<) equivalents to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) and broken markup. All string transformations execute locally in browser memory without sending text over the network.

How to use

Step 1: Paste Source Text

Enter or paste HTML code snippets, user input strings, or formatted text into the editor.
Step 2: Select Encoding Format

Choose Named Entities (&), Decimal Numeric (&), or Hexadecimal (&).
Step 3: Copy Sanitized Result

Click Copy to grab the encoded markup ready to embed safely in HTML source files.

Options explained

Named Entity Conversion

Translates standard ASCII and Latin-1 symbols into readable named references (©, ").

When to use: Use when writing human-readable HTML documentation and code examples.

Numeric Hex / Decimal Mode

Encodes characters using Unicode code points (&#xNN; or &#NN;).

When to use: Use for XML compatibility where named HTML entities are not natively recognized.

Bidirectional Decoder

Decodes encoded entity strings back into natural unescaped human-readable characters.

When to use: Use when cleaning scraped web data or inspecting encoded URL query parameters.

Worked example

Input: String: '<script>alert("XSS")</script>'

Output: Encoded: '<script>alert("XSS")</script>'

Processed via DOM element attribute escaping and Unicode code point mapping.

Tips & limits

The 5 primary XML/HTML entities requiring escaping are: & (&), < (<), > (>), " ("), and ' (').
Always encode user-supplied text before rendering it inside HTML tags to prevent cross-site scripting attacks.
Numeric entities (<) work in strict XML and SVG contexts where HTML entity names like   may fail.

Common problems

Double-encoding turns < into &lt;: Avoid running entity encoding on already-encoded text; decode first if working with mixed data sources.
Non-breaking spaces appear as weird characters:   translates to Unicode non-breaking space (U+00A0); use standard decode mode to restore standard spaces.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why is HTML entity encoding critical for web security?: Encoding characters like < and > helps browsers treat user input strictly as text rather than executable markup, neutralizing cross-site scripting (XSS) vectors.
What is the difference between named and numeric entities?: Named entities use mnemonic words (© for ©) defined in HTML specifications; numeric entities use exact Unicode code points (© or ©) recognized across all XML parsers.
Is my text data stored or shared?: No. All entity mapping and regex replacements run in local browser memory with zero network requests.

How to use

Step 1: Paste Source Text

Step 2: Select Encoding Format

Step 3: Copy Sanitized Result