What this decodes
This tool reverses HTML entity encoding: named references (&, <, , ©, and the rest of the HTML5 named character reference list), decimal numeric references (é), and hexadecimal numeric references (—) all resolve back to their original characters.
How it works
Decoding runs through the browser's own HTML parser rather than a hand-rolled entity table, so it's accurate for the full named-entity set — not just the five XML-safe characters. The input is never inserted into the visible page or executed as live markup; it's parsed off-screen purely to extract text, so pasting untrusted HTML here is safe.
FAQ
Will decoding run any embedded scripts?
No. The decoder extracts text content only — it never renders the input as part of the page, so <script> tags or event handlers in the input can't execute.
What if the input isn't actually encoded?
Plain text passes through unchanged — only recognized entities are converted, so it's safe to run arbitrary text through this tool without corrupting it.