HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

Encode and decode HTML entities

Use HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder

Real samples for HTML output checks
For nearby encoding checks, send URL-bound text to the URL Encoder/Decoder, inspect character code points with the Unicode Converter, or clean full markup in the HTML Formatter.

Common HTML Entities:

<→&lt;
>→&gt;
&→&amp;
"→&quot;
'→&#39;
/→&#x2F;

About This Tool

HTML entity encoding is the process of converting special characters into their HTML entity equivalents. This is essential for displaying reserved HTML characters as text content and preventing XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attacks in web applications.

What are HTML Entities?

HTML entities are special codes that represent characters in HTML. They begin with an ampersand (&) and end with a semicolon (;). For example, &lt; represents the less-than sign (<). HTML entities allow you to display characters that would otherwise be interpreted as HTML code, ensuring your content is rendered correctly.

Why Use HTML Encoding?

  • Security: Prevent XSS attacks by encoding user input
  • Display Reserved Characters: Show <, >, &, and quotes as text
  • Special Symbols: Display copyright (©), trademark (™), and other symbols
  • International Characters: Represent non-ASCII characters safely
  • Data Integrity: Preserve text content without HTML interpretation

Common HTML Entities

The most common HTML entities include: &lt; (less than), &gt; (greater than), &amp; (ampersand), &quot; (double quote), &#39; or &apos; (single quote), &nbsp; (non-breaking space), &copy; (copyright symbol), and &reg; (registered trademark). These entities ensure that special characters are displayed correctly in browsers.

Security Considerations

HTML entity encoding is a critical security measure for preventing XSS attacks. When displaying user-generated content, always encode HTML entities to prevent malicious scripts from executing. However, remember that encoding alone is not sufficient for all security scenarios - use it as part of a comprehensive security strategy including input validation and Content Security Policy. For formatting HTML code, use our HTML Formatter tool.

Practical Review Workflow

Start with a realistic comment, CMS title, or email-template fragment rather than a clean placeholder. Encode it, copy the result into the destination preview, then decode the same output here to confirm the readable text round-trips correctly. If the string will move into a query parameter, switch to the URL Encoder/Decoder; if you are debugging character code points, use the Unicode Converter before replacing production text.

When No Entities Are Found

A no-change result is still useful evidence. It usually means the text does not contain reserved HTML characters, the entities are already decoded, or the unsafe transformation happened later in the rendering pipeline. Compare the raw source, template output, and browser-rendered result before deciding whether HTML entity encoding is the right fix.