%29 is a close parenthesis
%29 is a close parenthesis. It's legal raw in a URL, but it can cut a pasted link short before it reaches its destination.
| Character | ")" |
|---|---|
| Name | Close Parenthesis |
| Encoded | %29 |
| Reserved | Yes — it has a special meaning in a URL |
Why it breaks things
A close parenthesis is an RFC 3986 sub-delimiter, legal to use unencoded anywhere in a URL. Browsers and servers pass a raw ) straight through, which is why reference sites use it constantly — a Wikipedia article on the planet is simply /wiki/Mercury_(planet), parentheses and all.
The trouble starts once that URL is pasted somewhere that auto-detects links from plain text. Many chat apps and Markdown renderers scan a message for something URL-shaped and turn it into a link, stopping at the first character that does not belong — and a closing parenthesis is a common stopping point, because it is also how a URL inside ordinary prose, like (see https://example.com), gets separated from the sentence around it.
Paste a URL ending in a real parenthetical, like the Wikipedia example, into a tool using that rule, and the link stops one character early: the visible text still shows the closing ), but it sits outside the link, and the address the click goes to is missing its last character. Some tools handle a matched pair correctly; plenty of simpler chat clients do not — angle brackets or encoding the ) as %29 avoid it.
Real examples
Without encoding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)
With encoding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_%28planet%29
The raw form is a completely legal, working URL — it is not broken in transit. The risk is downstream: pasted as plain text into a chat app or a Markdown document with simple link-detection, the auto-generated link can stop at the closing ), leaving the last character outside the link entirely.
Without encoding
https://example.com/products/vitamin-d-(1000-iu)
With encoding
https://example.com/products/vitamin-d-%281000-iu%29
A product name using parentheses for a dosage note. The raw URL works everywhere a browser or server is concerned; encoding it is only useful insurance against a chat client or document tool that auto-links text and cuts the link off at the parenthesis.
Decode something
Result
Breakdown
| Part | Value | Copy |
|---|
History
Nothing yet.
History stays in this browser. It is never sent to our server.
Common questions
- Is a URL with parentheses in it actually broken?
- No. RFC 3986 allows a raw ) anywhere in a URL, and browsers and servers handle it correctly. The problem, when there is one, happens later, in whatever tool turns pasted text into a clickable link.
- Why did my pasted Wikipedia link stop working after I sent it in a chat app?
- The app's link-detection likely ended the URL at the closing parenthesis, since that is also how a URL sitting inside a plain sentence gets separated from the words around it. The visible ) is left outside the actual link target.
- How do I share a URL with parentheses safely?
- Wrapping it in angle brackets, like <https://example.com/wiki/Mercury_(planet)>, tells most Markdown renderers exactly where the URL ends. Percent-encoding the closing parenthesis as %29 works too, though it changes how the link displays.
- Do all chat apps and Markdown tools cut links off at a parenthesis?
- No. Some handle a single matched pair correctly and keep the whole URL as one link. Plenty of others, especially simpler auto-linkers, use a plainer rule and stop at the first closing parenthesis regardless of whether it is matched.