Encoding Tools
Encoding changes how data is written so it can travel safely through a system that would otherwise break it: a URL that cannot contain spaces, an HTML page that would treat < as a tag, an email header that only accepts ASCII, or a JSON field that cannot hold raw binary.
Each tool here comes as a pair, one to encode and one to decode, so you can go in either direction. A quick rule of thumb: use URL encoding for query strings, HTML entities for showing code on a page, Base64 for carrying binary data inside text, and Punycode for international domain names. Remember that encoding is not encryption; anyone can reverse it.
Guides for these tools
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What Is Base64 Encoding, and When Should You Actually Use It?
Base64 encoding turns binary data into plain text so it survives systems built for text. Here is what it is for, and what it is not for.