OptiDrop

HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder — Free Online Tool

Convert special characters to HTML entities and back. Encode text for safe HTML display or decode entity codes to readable characters. 100% free, no sign-up.

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Free HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder Online

OptiDrop's HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder converts special characters to their HTML entity equivalents and back. This is essential for web developers who need to safely display special characters like angle brackets, ampersands, and quotes in HTML without breaking page layout or introducing security vulnerabilities.

What Are HTML Entities?

HTML entities are special strings that begin with an ampersand (&) and end with a semicolon (;). They are used to display reserved characters in HTML. For example, the less-than sign (<) is represented as &lt; in HTML source code. Without encoding, these characters would be interpreted as HTML markup by the browser.

Why Use HTML Encoding?

HTML encoding prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by ensuring that user-supplied text is displayed safely on webpages. It also ensures that code snippets, mathematical expressions, and other text containing special characters render correctly in web browsers.

Frequently Asked Questions

HTML entities are special codes used to display reserved characters in HTML. For example, the less-than sign < is written as &lt; and the ampersand & is written as &amp;. They ensure that browsers render characters correctly without interpreting them as HTML code.
HTML encoding is needed when you want to display special characters like <, >, &, quotes on a webpage without the browser treating them as HTML tags or attributes. It is essential for security (preventing XSS attacks) and for correctly displaying code snippets in web content.
Encoding converts special characters into HTML entity codes (e.g., < becomes &lt;). Decoding does the reverse — it converts HTML entity codes back into their original characters (e.g., &lt; becomes <). This tool supports both operations.
Yes, this tool handles all common HTML entities including named entities like &amp;, &lt;, &gt;, &quot;, &apos; and numeric character references like &#60; or &#x3C;. It converts all special characters that need escaping in HTML documents.

Last updated: June 2026