HTML Entity Encoder / Decoder
Convert reserved HTML characters to safe entity codes and back. Essential for embedding code snippets and preventing XSS vulnerabilities.
Common HTML Entities
When to Use HTML Entities
Prevent XSS Attacks
Encode user-generated content before rendering it in HTML to prevent cross-site scripting attacks.
Display Code Samples
Show <code>, <script>, and other tags as visible text without the browser interpreting them.
Special Characters
Encode copyright ©, registered ®, em-dashes —, and unicode characters for safe email/HTML use.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is HTML encoding?
HTML encoding converts characters with special meaning in HTML (like < and &) into their entity equivalents (< and &) so they appear as text rather than being parsed as HTML markup.
What's the difference between encode and decode?
Encoding converts plain characters INTO HTML entities (< → <). Decoding converts HTML entities BACK to plain characters (< → <).
Is this safe to use for security purposes?
This tool is great for learning and testing entity encoding. For production security, always use your server-side framework's built-in escaping functions (e.g., htmlspecialchars in PHP, v-html in Vue, etc.).