Quoted-Printable to Text Converter
Encode text to quoted-printable or decode it back, the MIME transfer encoding from RFC 2045 used in email bodies. The tool converts your input to UTF-8, writes non-ASCII bytes and = as =XX hex escapes, protects trailing spaces and wraps lines at 76 characters with soft line breaks. Decoding removes the soft breaks and escapes again. It helps developers inspect and build raw email messages and newsletters.
Frequently asked questions
What is quoted-printable?
Quoted-printable is a MIME content transfer encoding from RFC 2045. It keeps printable ASCII readable and writes other bytes as = followed by two hex digits. It is used for email text that is mostly ASCII with some accented characters.
Can I see an example?
café encodes to caf=C3=A9, because é is the two UTF-8 bytes C3 and A9. An equals sign becomes =3D, so a=b becomes a=3Db. A space at the end of a line becomes =20.
What are soft line breaks?
Encoded lines may be at most 76 characters long. Longer lines are split with an = at the end of each part, which the decoder removes to rejoin the line. The tool never splits an =XX escape.
How are line breaks handled?
Line breaks in your text become CRLF hard line breaks in the encoded output, as MIME requires. When decoding, hard line breaks are returned as plain line breaks.
Which character set does the tool use?
The tool encodes and decodes UTF-8. Emails in ISO-8859-1 or Windows-1252 decode to bytes that are not valid UTF-8, and the tool reports them instead of showing broken characters.
Why is my input rejected?
Every = must be followed by two hexadecimal digits or end a line as a soft break. Inputs such as =G1 or a lone = in the middle of a line are invalid. Both uppercase and lowercase hex digits are accepted.
Is quoted-printable the same as the =?UTF-8?Q? header encoding?
They are related but not the same. Header encoded words from RFC 2047 use a variant where spaces become underscores and the text is wrapped in =?charset?Q?...?=. This tool handles the body encoding.
When should I use quoted-printable instead of Base64?
Use quoted-printable for text that is mostly ASCII, because it stays readable and small. For binary attachments or text in non-Latin scripts, Base64 is more compact.
Does the tool remove trailing whitespace when decoding?
Yes. RFC 2045 says trailing spaces and tabs on an encoded line were added in transport, so the decoder drops them. Spaces that matter are encoded as =20 or =09.
How much text can I convert?
Up to 5 MiB of text per request. Nothing you enter is stored.