HTML Entity Encoder

What is HTML Entity Encoder?

HTML Entity Encoder converts special characters to their HTML entity equivalents and decodes entities back to characters. It supports all three entity formats — named entities (&), decimal numeric (&), and hexadecimal numeric (&). The tool handles the full Unicode range and includes a searchable reference table of all named HTML entities with their characters and code points.

Frontend developers preventing XSS vulnerabilities, content editors inserting special characters, and web scrapers processing HTML entity-encoded text. The tool runs entirely in your browser — your data never leaves your device.

How to Use HTML Entity Encoder

1. Paste text containing special characters to encode them as HTML entities
2. Or paste text with HTML entities to decode them back to readable characters
3. Select the entity format — named (&), decimal (&), or hex (&)
4. Browse the searchable reference table to find specific character entities
5. Copy the encoded or decoded result for use in your HTML documents

Common Use Cases

• Encoding user-generated content for safe insertion into HTML templates to prevent XSS
• Decoding HTML entities found in web scraping output to get the original characters
• Inserting special characters like em dashes, copyright symbols, and mathematical operators into HTML
• Preparing text with angle brackets and ampersands for display in HTML code examples
• Converting between named and numeric entity formats for compatibility with different parsers

Pro Tips

• Always encode the five critical characters in user content: < > & double-quote and single-quote — failing to encode these in HTML output is the root cause of most XSS vulnerabilities
• Named entities like &nbsp; are more readable in source code but not supported for all characters — decimal or hex entities cover the entire Unicode range
• Use &shy; (soft hyphen) for optional word break points in long words — the browser only shows a hyphen if it needs to break the word for line wrapping

Why Use This Tool?

• Privacy-first: All processing happens locally in your browser. No data is transmitted to any server.
• No installation required: Works in any modern browser on desktop or mobile.
• Completely free: No account, no credit card, no usage caps.
• Fast and reliable: Powered by modern Web APIs for near-instant results.

Related Concepts

Learn more about related topics: Character reference, Unicode code point, XSS prevention, HTML5 entities.

Frequently Asked Questions