How to use HTML Entity Decoder
- Paste text containing entities.
- Enable "Decode repeatedly" for double-encoded content.
- Check the warnings for unknown names.
- Copy the plain text.
HTML Entity Decoder features
- Decodes named, decimal and hexadecimal character references
- Windows-1252 remapping for €–Ÿ exactly as browsers do
- Repeated decoding for double-escaped text (&lt; → <)
- Lists unknown entity names instead of silently dropping them
- Tells you whether the result contains HTML markup
HTML Entity Decoder example
Decode a product description
Input:
Tom & Jerry © 2026 — café … ✓Output:
Tom & Jerry © 2026 — café … ✓Frequently asked questions about HTML Entity Decoder
Which entities are recognised?
All numeric forms (&#NNN; and &#xHH;) plus the commonly used HTML5 named entities — Latin-1 symbols and accents, Greek letters, punctuation, arrows, math and card symbols. Unknown names are left untouched and listed.
Why does – decode to an en dash?
Code points 128–159 are control characters in Unicode, but browsers interpret these numeric references as Windows-1252 characters for compatibility. The tool follows the HTML specification and does the same.
How do I decode &lt;?
That is a double-encoded "<". Enable "Decode repeatedly" and the tool keeps decoding until no entities remain (up to five passes).
Are entities without a trailing semicolon decoded?
Numeric entities and a small legacy set (& < > "   © ®) are, as browsers do. Other names require the semicolon to avoid corrupting text such as "AT&T".
Technical notes
Numeric references map directly to Unicode code points (with the historical Windows-1252 exception and replacement of NUL and surrogates). Named references are looked up in a table of the most common HTML5 entities. Legacy names without a trailing semicolon are only decoded for the small set browsers accept, so text such as "AT&T" is preserved.