Convert special characters to HTML entities or decode HTML entities back to plain text - instantly and client-side.
| Character | Entity Name | Numeric |
|---|
HTML entities are special character sequences that represent characters which have reserved meaning in HTML markup, or characters outside the standard ASCII set. The most commonly used HTML entities include & for the ampersand (&), < and > for angle brackets (< >), " for double quotes ("), and ' for apostrophes. These originated with the SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) specification in 1986 and were carried forward into HTML 4.01 (1999) and the current HTML5 standard. Encoding is essential to prevent HTML injection - a class of security vulnerability where unescaped user input containing HTML tags is rendered as markup in a browser.
XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) is consistently ranked in the OWASP Top 10 Web Application Security Risks and is particularly prevalent in Indian e-commerce platforms, banking portals, and government websites that handle user-submitted content. Properly encoding user input before rendering it in HTML is the first line of defence. CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), which operates under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), regularly issues advisories about XSS vulnerabilities in Indian websites. Developers preparing for certifications such as CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) - popular in India's growing cybersecurity workforce - must understand HTML encoding as a fundamental security concept.
Paste any text containing special characters or HTML markup into the input box and select Encode to convert all reserved characters to their entity equivalents, or Decode to reverse the process. The swap button lets you toggle direction instantly. Output is copy-ready for use in HTML source code, email templates, or CMS content editors.