What are HTML entities?

HTML entities are text representations for characters that would otherwise have structural meaning in markup. For example, an ampersand begins an entity and a less-than sign can begin a tag.

Named vs numeric entities

Named forms such as & are readable, while decimal and hexadecimal numeric forms identify a Unicode code point. All forms decode to characters rather than active elements in this tool.

HTML escaping vs URL encoding

HTML escaping protects markup text. URL encoding represents bytes inside URL components. They solve different contextual problems and should not be substituted for one another.

Frequently asked questions

Can decoded HTML execute?

No. Output remains escaped text in a textarea and no preview is provided.

Does this support Unicode?

Yes. Non-ASCII characters can be represented with named or numeric HTML entities where available.