HTML Decoder

Convert HTML entities back into the characters they represent.

Encoding Runs in your browser Shareable link
HTML entities
Plain text

Nothing decoded yet

Paste text containing HTML entities to turn them back into the characters they represent.

Runs entirely in your browser. Your data isn't uploaded — this page makes no network request with anything you type, which you can verify in your browser's network tab. How this works.

What is the HTML Decoder?

HTML decoding turns entities back into characters: & into &, — into an em dash,   into a non-breaking space. It is what you need when text has passed through a CMS, a scraper or an email template and arrived at your application still carrying its markup escaping.

This decoder handles the full named entity set as well as decimal and hexadecimal numeric references, and flags double-encoded input rather than leaving you to notice it.

How to use it

  1. Paste the text containing HTML entities.
  2. Press Decode (or Ctrl/Cmd + Enter).
  3. If the output still contains entities, run it again — the input was double-encoded.

Example

Entities from a CMS export, decoded.

Input
Café — 5 min read
Result
Café — 5 min read

Features

  • Full named entity support, not just the common five
  • Decimal (&) and hexadecimal (&) numeric references
  • Detects and reports double-encoded input
  • Optional stripping of HTML tags to recover plain text

Frequently asked questions

Why do I see & in my data?
Each layer that escaped the value added another round. Decode repeatedly until it stabilises, then fix the pipeline — usually one stage is escaping output that was already escaped.
Can I use this to strip HTML tags?
There is an option to do so for convenience, but do not rely on tag stripping as a security control. Sanitise untrusted HTML with a purpose-built library on the server.
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