Skip to content
codevory

HTML Decoder

Decode HTML entities such as &, é and € back to characters, using the full HTML5 entity table.

HTML Decoder: the tool

Paste text containing HTML entities to decode them.

Input

Decoded

The result appears here.

How to use HTML Decoder

  1. Paste text that contains entities such as <, &, é or €.
  2. The decoded text appears immediately. Tags in the input are not interpreted, only entities are converted.
  3. Copy the result or download it as a text file.

Example

Escaped markup with named and numeric entities, decoded back to the original characters.

Encoded
<p class="note">Café & crème €5 😀</p>
Decoded
<p class="note">Café & crème €5 😀</p>

About this tool

HTML entities are written as &name; or &#number;. The HTML5 standard defines more than 2,000 named entities, plus decimal (&#233;) and hexadecimal (&#xE9;) numeric references. This decoder hands your text to the browser's own HTML parser, so it supports the complete table and follows the standard's rules exactly, including legacy forms such as &amp without a semicolon in the places where the standard allows them.

Only character references are decoded. The text is parsed as plain text content, so markup in your input, including <script> tags, is shown as written and is never executed or removed.

Decoding happens locally in your browser tab.

Frequently asked questions

Which entities are supported?

All of them. Decoding uses the browser's HTML5 parser, so every named entity from the standard (about 2,200) and all decimal and hexadecimal references are handled.

Does the decoder remove or run HTML tags?

No. The input is treated as plain text, so tags stay in the output exactly as written and nothing is executed.

What happens to an unknown entity such as &foo;?

It is left unchanged, as browsers do when they render a page. One rule from the HTML standard can surprise you: about 100 historical entities, such as &amp, &lt, &copy and &not, are recognised even without the closing semicolon. So &notit; is read as the not sign followed by it;.

What is the difference between &#233; and &#xE9;?

Nothing. Both are the character é, written with its code point in decimal or in hexadecimal.

Can I decode text twice?

Decoding once turns &amp;lt; into &lt;. Decoding the result again would turn it into <. Use the Use as input button to repeat the step on purpose.

More developer tools