Free tools
HTML Decode
Free online HTML decoder — convert HTML entities like &, <, and > back to their original characters.
Decoded result
HTML Decode Online
Paste HTML-encoded text into the field above and click HTML Decode to convert entities back to their original characters. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
What Is HTML Decoding?
HTML decoding is the reverse of HTML encoding: it converts HTML entities like &, <, and > back into their original characters (&, <, >). You'll encounter HTML-encoded strings in scraped web content, API responses, and template outputs.
Common Uses
- Reading HTML-encoded content from APIs or RSS feeds
- Cleaning up scraped web content that contains entities
- Inspecting escaped HTML from templating engines
How to Use This Tool
- Paste your HTML-encoded string into the input field.
- Click HTML Decode.
- Copy the decoded result with the copy button.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I decode HTML entities?
Paste text containing HTML entities into the input field. The tool converts all entities back to their original characters. For example,
< becomes <, & becomes &, and " becomes ".What HTML entities are supported?
The tool supports all standard named entities (
<, >, &, ", ', , etc.) and numeric entities in both decimal (é) and hexadecimal (é) formats.When do I need to decode HTML?
Common use cases: converting HTML-encoded content from databases back to readable text, processing HTML email content, extracting text from RSS feeds, preparing content for non-HTML contexts (plain text files, JSON, etc.), and cleaning up encoded text from APIs.
Does decoding affect regular HTML tags?
No. The tool only decodes HTML entities (things starting with
& and ending with ;). Regular HTML tags like <p> remain unchanged unless they're entity-encoded. This is the safe, expected behavior.What happens to incomplete or invalid entities?
Invalid or incomplete entities (like a bare
& not followed by a valid entity name or number) are left as-is. The tool won't attempt to 'fix' them, preserving the original text exactly.Is this tool secure?
Yes. All decoding happens entirely in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server. For sensitive content you're processing, this local processing ensures your data stays private.