An HTML entities converter encodes special characters to HTML entity format and decodes them back in seconds. Paste any text and instantly convert characters like < > & " to their entity equivalents, or decode entities back to readable text. Whether you are escaping content for safe HTML display, preventing XSS attacks, or cleaning up encoded text, this free online HTML entities converter handles it with one click. No signup required. Try it now for instant results.
✨ Try the Free Online HTML Entities Converter
How to Use HTML Entities Converter — Step by Step
Step 1: Paste your text
Paste any text that contains special characters (for encoding) or HTML entities (for decoding). The tool processes your input in real time. You can paste code snippets, blog content, user-generated text, or any text with special characters.
Step 2: Choose encode or decode
Click "Encode → Entities" to convert special characters like <, >, &, ", ' to their HTML entity equivalents. Click "Decode → Text" to convert entities like <, >, & back to readable characters.
Step 3: Review the converted output
The tool converts all applicable characters in your text. For encoding, it handles the five standard HTML entities plus other special characters. For decoding, it handles all named entities (<, >, &, etc.) and numeric entities (<, &, etc.).
Step 4: Copy and use
Click the copy button to grab the converted text, then paste it into your HTML template, CMS, code editor, or email template.
Real-World Examples
CMS Content Entry (Content Manager): You are writing a blog post that contains code snippets with < and > characters. Encoding them to HTML entities ensures they display correctly in your CMS without being interpreted as actual HTML tags.
XSS Prevention (Web Developer): You receive user-generated content that contains <script> tags. Encoding the input to HTML entities neutralizes the threat, displaying the content safely without executing any scripts.
Email Template Cleanup (Marketer): Your email template contains encoded entities from a previous CMS export. Decoding them back to readable characters gives you clean text for your new email platform.
Code Documentation (Developer): You are writing API documentation with example HTML code. Encoding the examples preserves the angle brackets and ampersands so developers see the actual code, not rendered HTML.
Legacy Data Migration (Data Engineer): You are migrating content from an old system that double-encoded entities (< instead of <). Decoding once gives you clean entities, decoding twice gives you raw characters.
SVG/XML Embedding (Designer): You need to embed SVG code in an HTML attribute. Encoding the SVG ensures the quotes and angle brackets don't break the attribute value.
Encode Example (before → after): Paste raw text like 5 < 10 && 3 > 2 into the tool and switch to Encode. The output becomes 5 < 10 && 3 > 2, which browsers render as plain text instead of interpreting the angle brackets as markup. This is exactly what you need when publishing code snippets in a CMS or a forum post.
Decode Example (before → after): Copy an encoded string like Tom & Jerry said "hello" into the tool and switch to Decode. The output becomes Tom & Jerry said "hello" — clean, readable text ready for editing, exporting, or importing into a new platform.
Features
- Encodes
<,>,&,",'and other special characters to HTML entity format - Decodes HTML entities like
<,>,&,",'back to readable text - Supports named entities (
<,>,&,",') and numeric entities (decimal<, hex<) - Real-time processing with no uploads, signup, or page reloads
- 100% private — all processing happens locally in your browser
- Handles large text blocks without slowing down
- Free forever with one-click copy and clear buttons
Tips & Best Practices
- Encode early, decode late: Encode user input immediately on receipt. Decode only when displaying in a context that needs raw characters (like a text editor).
- Don't double-encode: If text is already encoded, encoding again produces
<instead of<. Check first, or decode then re-encode. - Use for attribute values: When putting dynamic content in HTML attributes, always encode quotes and ampersands to prevent attribute injection.
- Combine with Remove HTML Tags: Use Remove HTML Tags first to strip unwanted tags, then encode the remaining text for safe display.
- Test in target context: After encoding, paste into your CMS/editor to verify entities render correctly. Some systems auto-decode on save.
- For full Unicode, use specialized tools: This tool covers the 5 standard HTML entities. For emoji, foreign scripts, or symbols, use a Unicode-to-entity encoder.
- Handle user input in forms: Always encode data from
,