HTML Entity Decoder
Free online HTML Entity Decoder. Simple, fast, and secure tool running in your browser.
What is the HTML Entity Decoder/Encoder?
Sometimes when you scrape web data or view source code, you'll encounter text filled with strings like "&", "<", or "'". These are HTML entities—safe representations of reserved characters used by web browsers.
However, they make the text unreadable for humans and unusable in databases. Our Free Online HTML Entity Decoder instantly translates these encoded sequences back into standard, human-readable text. It seamlessly converts both named entities and numeric entities.
You can also use this tool to securely encode normal text into HTML entities, preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks or layout breaks when injecting user data into web pages.
How to Decode HTML Special Characters
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1
Enter Text
Copy the text block containing the HTML entities and paste it into the editor window.
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2
Select Decode Feature
Click 'Decode Text' to strip away the HTML escape codes instantly.
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3
Export Clean Text
Review the newly formatted text, completely free of entity codes, and copy it to your clipboard.
💡 Pro Tips for Best Results
- • This tool is perfect for cleaning up data exported from CMS platforms (like WordPress) where quotes and apostrophes are frequently escaped.
- • Use the Encoder mode if you need to safely prepare standard text for display within an HTML element.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do HTML entities exist?
Browsers read certain characters (like < and >) as code. If you want to display an actual less-than sign to a user, you must use an entity like < so the browser doesn't confuse it with an HTML tag.
What is a special character in HTML?
Any typographical symbol that isn't a standard alphanumeric character. For example, ™ for ™, or € for €.
Will this remove my actual HTML tags?
No. The decoder specifically targets entities spanning from the ampersand to the semicolon. Actual tags like <div> remain untouched.