%20 is the URL-encoded form of a space. Because a literal space is not allowed inside a web address, browsers and servers replace it with %20 so the URL stays valid. If you see %20 scattered through a link, it simply marks where spaces used to be.
The short answer
In a URL, %20 means a space character. The percent sign signals an encoded character, and 20 is the value of the space character written in hexadecimal. So hello%20world is just hello world with the space safely encoded. It is completely normal and harmless; it is how URLs are supposed to handle spaces.
%20, read it as a space. my%20file.pdf is my file.pdf, and search?q=red%20shoes is searching for red shoes.
Why spaces become %20
A URL can only reliably contain a limited set of characters. Spaces are not among them, because a raw space inside a web address is ambiguous and many systems would break or truncate the link at that point. To solve this, URLs use a scheme called percent-encoding, which represents any unsafe character as a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits that identify the character.
The space character has the value 32 in the standard character table, and 32 written in hexadecimal is 20. So a space becomes %20. The same logic gives you other encoded characters you may have seen, such as %3F for a question mark or %26 for an ampersand. The space is just the most common one because spaces appear so often in filenames and search terms.
Where you’ll see %20 most
- File names with spaces: a link to
annual report.pdfbecomesannual%20report.pdf. - Search queries: searching for two words puts
%20between them in the URL. - Shared links: when you copy a URL that points to something with a space in its name, the space is encoded so the link survives being pasted into chat apps and emails.
In every case it is doing the same job: keeping the space from breaking the address.
%20 versus the plus sign
You may also have noticed that spaces sometimes appear as a + instead of %20, especially in search URLs. Both can represent a space, but they come from two different conventions. Strict percent-encoding always uses %20. An older convention specific to HTML form submissions encodes a space in the query string as +. So q=red+shoes and q=red%20shoes often mean the same search.
The practical catch is that a literal plus sign in your data must itself be encoded as %2B, otherwise it may be misread as a space. This small ambiguity is the source of a surprising number of bugs when handling URLs.
| Character | Percent-encoding | Form convention |
|---|---|---|
| space | %20 | + |
| literal + | %2B | %2B |
How to decode %20 back to a space
If you have a URL full of %20 and other percent sequences and want to read it as plain text, you decode it. You can do this instantly with the URL encoder / decoder: paste the encoded URL, switch to decode, and every %20 turns back into a space along with any other encoded characters. Going the other way, you can paste text with spaces and watch it encode to %20, which is useful when you are building a link by hand.
Do I need to worry about %20?
Almost never. Browsers encode and decode these sequences automatically, so a link with %20 in it works exactly like one with spaces; the encoded form is just the technically correct version. The only time it matters is when you are building URLs in code, where you should encode values properly so spaces and other special characters do not break the address. For everyday browsing, %20 is nothing to be concerned about, it is simply a space wearing its formal clothes.
%20 into the free CodeZips URL encoder / decoder to instantly turn it back into readable text, or encode text into a URL-safe form. It runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you paste is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
What does %20 mean in a URL?
It is a space. Spaces are not allowed in URLs, so they are encoded as %20, where 20 is the hexadecimal value of the space character. Wherever you see %20, read it as a space.
How do I remove %20 from a URL?
Decode the URL, which converts each %20 back into a real space. A URL decoder does this instantly. You generally should not just delete the %20, since that would join words together; decoding restores the intended spaces.
Is %20 the same as a plus sign?
Both can represent a space. Strict URL encoding uses %20, while an older form-submission convention uses + for spaces in query strings. A literal plus sign should be encoded as %2B to avoid confusion.
Is %20 in a link dangerous?
No. It is the normal, correct way to represent a space in a URL. Browsers handle it automatically, so a link with %20 works just like one with spaces.
Why do file links have %20 in them?
Because the file name contains a space. A file called my report.pdf appears in a URL as my%20report.pdf so the space does not break the link.
