HTML Entities Converter
Convert special characters to and from HTML entities with our free online HTML Entities Converter. Easily encode text containing special characters like ampersands, quotes, angle brackets, and accented characters into their HTML entity equivalents for safe inclusion in web pages. Or decode HTML entities back to their original characters for readability. This tool handles all HTML5 entities including named entities, numeric character references, and hexadecimal references. Perfect for developers working with multilingual content, cleaning up copied text, preparing content for CMS input, or debugging encoding issues.
What Is
The HTML Entities Converter is a bidirectional tool that transforms text between plain characters and HTML entity notation. It supports three entity encoding formats: named entities (using the full HTML5 entity set of over 2,000 named references such as & < > " © etc.), numeric entities (decimal format like ©), and hexadecimal entities (hex format like ©). The converter can encode all non-ASCII characters, all special/reserved HTML characters, or only the minimum required characters (ampersand, less-than, greater-than, quotes). It can also decode any of these formats back to their original Unicode characters. The tool handles the complete HTML5 entity list maintained by the WHATWG, ensuring accurate conversion for all named entities. The tool is continuously updated to support the latest standards and specifications, ensuring compatibility with modern web development workflows and best practices across the industry.
How to Use
- Open the HTML Entities Converter in your browser — no installation or registration needed.
- Enter or paste your text in the input area — either plain text to encode or HTML entities to decode.
- Select the conversion direction: encode (to entities) or decode (from entities).
- Choose the encoding format for encoding: named entities, decimal numeric, or hexadecimal numeric.
- Set any additional options such as encoding only special characters or all non-ASCII characters.
- View the converted output and copy it to your clipboard.
Examples
Input: Encode: <script>alert('xss')</script>
Process: Replace < with < > with > ' with ' → Entity map
Result: <script>alert('xss')</script>
Input: Decode: &lt; hello &gt;
Process: Match HTML entity table → Replace &lt; with < → Unescape
Result: < hello >
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the HTML Entities Converter free?
Yes, this tool is completely free to use with unlimited conversions, no account required, and no premium features. Convert any amount of text between entities and plain characters without any restrictions or costs.
What are HTML entities?
HTML entities are codes used to represent special characters in HTML markup. They start with & and end with ;, and are used for characters that have special meaning in HTML (like < > &), characters not available on the keyboard, and characters that might be misinterpreted by browsers. Examples include < for less-than, & for ampersand, and © for copyright symbol.
When should I encode entities?
Encode entities when inserting user-generated content into HTML to prevent XSS attacks, when displaying code examples on web pages, when your content contains characters that conflict with HTML syntax, or when ensuring special characters display correctly across all browsers and character encodings.
Should I encode all non-ASCII characters?
No, only encode characters that are necessary. If your document uses UTF-8 encoding (which is standard for modern web pages), most Unicode characters can be used directly without encoding. You only need to encode entities for the five reserved HTML characters (& < > ' ") and possibly non-breaking spaces.
Which encoding format is best?
Named entities are most readable and recommended for common symbols. Numeric entities are more universally supported and work even when the entity name is unknown. For most use cases, encoding only the minimum required characters (& < > ") is sufficient and keeps output clean.
Can I convert in bulk?
Yes, the tool accepts large blocks of text and converts all special characters at once. There is no practical limit to the amount of text you can process in a single conversion. The conversion happens instantly in your browser regardless of input size.