Text to HTML Entities
Encode plain text into web-safe HTML entities or decode entities back to readable text.
What Are HTML Entities?
HTML uses certain characters as part of its syntax — the angle brackets <and > define tags, the ampersand & starts entity references, and quotes delimit attribute values. If you want to display these characters as visible text on a webpage rather than having the browser interpret them as code, you must encode them as HTML entities.
For example, to display <div> as visible text rather than an invisible HTML element, you write <div>. This encoder handles that conversion automatically for any text you paste in.
Common HTML Entities Reference
- < → < (less than)
- > → > (greater than)
- & → & (ampersand)
- " → " (double quote)
- ' → ' (apostrophe)
- © → © (copyright)
- ® → ® (registered trademark)
- ™ → ™ (trademark)
- € → € (euro sign)
- → (non-breaking space)
When to Encode HTML Entities
- Displaying code examples — any HTML code shown as visible text in a tutorial or documentation.
- User-generated content — always encode input before rendering in HTML to prevent XSS attacks.
- Special characters in meta tags — ampersands and quotes in meta descriptions should be encoded.
- Email templates — HTML email clients are strict about encoding special characters.
- XML data — XML requires strict entity encoding for the five reserved characters.
Knowledge Base
An HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder is a tool that converts special characters (like <, >, &) into their safe HTML entity equivalents (like <, >, &) and vice-versa. This ensures text displays correctly in web browsers without breaking the HTML structure.
- 1Paste your text containing special characters into the input area.
- 2Ensure the toggle is set to 'Encoding' mode.
- 3Click 'Encode to Entities' to get the safe HTML code.
- 4To reverse the process, switch the toggle to 'Decoding' mode or use the 'Swap' button.
It provides instant, two-way conversion (Encode & Decode) in one interface. The 'Swap & Reverse' feature saves time, and it handles both standard named entities and numeric entities for non-ASCII characters perfectly.
Why do I need to encode HTML entities?
If you use characters like < or & directly in HTML, the browser treats them as code. Encoding them ensures they display as visible text and also helps prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks.
What is the difference between named and numeric entities?
Named entities use text (like & for &), while numeric entities use numbers (like &). Both work, but our tool prioritizes named entities for readability and uses numeric for characters without names (like emojis or special symbols).
How does the 'Swap & Reverse' button work?
It takes the output result, moves it to the input box, clears the output, and automatically switches from Encoding to Decoding (or vice-versa), allowing you to instantly reverse the process.