HTML Entity Encoder Online

Convert special characters to HTML entities — prevent XSS and display issues

What Is HTML Entity Encoding?

HTML entity encoding converts characters that have special meaning in HTML into their entity representations. The five most critical characters are: less-than (<), greater-than (>), ampersand (&), double quote ("), and single quote ('). These characters control HTML structure, so including them literally in content can break page rendering or enable cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Entity encoding replaces each special character with a named or numeric entity reference. For example, the less-than sign < becomes &lt; and the ampersand & becomes &amp;. Browsers render these entities visually as the original characters while treating them as text content rather than HTML markup. This is the primary defense against XSS injection, where an attacker inserts malicious HTML or JavaScript through user input that gets rendered without encoding.

How to HTML Encode Text Online

1. Paste your text containing special HTML characters into the input field
2. Click Encode to convert special characters to their HTML entity equivalents
3. Review the output — angle brackets, ampersands, and quotes are now entity-encoded
4. Copy the encoded HTML for safe insertion into your web pages, templates, or CMS
5. Use the Decode option to reverse the process when needed

Why Use PinusX for HTML Encoding?

PinusX encodes your HTML entities with 100% client-side processing. Your content never leaves your browser — no server processing, no data logging, no external transmission. This matters when encoding content that includes user-submitted data, internal application text, or sensitive business content. The risk of server-based tools was demonstrated in November 2025, when jsonformatter.org leaked over 80,000 user credentials processed on their servers. PinusX runs the encoding algorithm entirely in your browser tab using JavaScript, ensuring your text content stays on your machine throughout the entire process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is HTML encoding important for security?

HTML encoding prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. Without encoding, user input containing <script> tags or event handlers gets executed as code when rendered in a browser. Encoding converts these characters to harmless entity references that display as text rather than executing as HTML or JavaScript.

Which characters must always be HTML encoded?

The five mandatory characters are: < (less-than, becomes &lt;), > (greater-than, becomes &gt;), & (ampersand, becomes &amp;), " (double quote, becomes &quot;), and ' (single quote, becomes &#39; or &apos;). These characters control HTML structure and must be encoded in all user-generated content.

What is the difference between named and numeric entities?

Named entities use descriptive names like &amp;lt; for <. Numeric entities use character code numbers like &amp;#60; (decimal) or &amp;#x3C; (hexadecimal) for the same character. Both render identically. Named entities are more readable, but numeric entities can represent any Unicode character.

Should I encode all characters or just special ones?

For security, encoding the five special HTML characters is sufficient. Encoding all non-ASCII characters (accented letters, symbols, emoji) is optional and mainly needed for legacy systems that cannot handle UTF-8. Modern websites with UTF-8 encoding do not need to entity-encode non-special characters.

Is HTML encoding the same as URL encoding?

No. HTML encoding converts characters to HTML entity references (like &amp;lt;) for safe display in HTML. URL encoding converts characters to percent-hex codes (like %3C) for safe inclusion in URLs. They serve different purposes and use different encoding schemes. Use the right encoding for each context.

Your data never leaves your browser. 100% client-side processing.