# URL Encoding

URL Encoding (also known as percent encoding) is the process of converting a [URL](/glossary/u/url) so as to replace *reserved* characters that have a special meaning with special *escape* character sequences.

For example `/` might be replaced with `%2F` and `(` with `%28`.

This is done to differentiate between when the characters used as text and when they are used in their special meaning.