Free Online HTML Entity Decoder

HTML entity decoding converts named (`&`, `<`) and numeric (`'`, `‘`) references back into the characters they represent.

Your data is processed entirely in your browser and never sent to any server.

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How to Use This Developer Tool

  1. Paste entity-encoded text into the input area.
  2. Read the decoded plain text in the output panel.
  3. Click Copy to send the result to your clipboard.

What Is a HTML Entity Decoder?

Database exports, scraped pages, RSS feeds, and CMS extracts often arrive with HTML-encoded characters baked into the text. To use that text outside an HTML context — in a plain-text email body, a JSON payload, a SQL `INSERT`, or a CSV column — you have to unescape it first.

This decoder handles the full set of HTML5 named entities, decimal numeric entities (`'`), and hex numeric entities (`‘`). Unrecognised references are passed through verbatim rather than silently mangled, so you can spot malformed input.

Frequently Asked Questions

What entities are supported?
Named entities (<, &,  ), decimal (<), and hexadecimal (<) are supported. All standard HTML5 entities decode correctly.
When would I decode HTML entities?
When processing HTML content for plain text, parsing scraped data, or converting HTML to another format. Decoding reverses encoding.
What about invalid entities?
Invalid or unknown entities are typically left as-is. < might decode to < (double encoding)—decode again if needed.

Published by the WeGotEveryTool team. We build and test every tool in-house and update pages when the underlying spec, formula, or recommendation changes.

Reviewed: May 2026. Disclaimer: this tool is provided as-is for general informational use. For decisions with material consequences (medical, legal, financial, security) verify results against a qualified professional source.

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