diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
index fc239661fa8..cc0c14ee176 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
@@ -36,8 +36,7 @@ describe('state functions', () => {
     });
 
     it('returns a valid Explore state from URL parameter', () => {
-      const paramValue =
-        '%7B"datasource":"Local","queries":%5B%7B"expr":"metric"%7D%5D,"range":%7B"from":"now-1h","to":"now"%7D%7D';
+      const paramValue = '{"datasource":"Local","queries":[{"expr":"metric"}],"range":{"from":"now-1h","to":"now"}}';
       expect(parseUrlState(paramValue)).toMatchObject({
         datasource: 'Local',
         queries: [{ expr: 'metric' }],
@@ -49,9 +48,7 @@ describe('state functions', () => {
     });
 
     it('returns a valid Explore state from a compact URL parameter', () => {
-      // ["now-1h","now","Local",{"expr":"metric"},{"ui":[true,true,true,"none"]}]
-      const paramValue =
-        '%5B"now-1h","now","Local",%7B"expr":"metric"%7D,%7B%22ui%22:%5Btrue,true,true,%22none%22%5D%7D%5D';
+      const paramValue = '["now-1h","now","Local",{"expr":"metric"},{"ui":[true,true,true,"none"]}]';
       expect(parseUrlState(paramValue)).toMatchObject({
         datasource: 'Local',
         queries: [{ expr: 'metric' }],
@@ -63,9 +60,8 @@ describe('state functions', () => {
     });
 
     it('should return queries if queryType is present in the url', () => {
-      // ["now-1h","now","x-ray-datasource",{"queryType":"getTraceSummaries"},{"ui":[true,true,true,"none"]}]
       const paramValue =
-        '%5B"now-1h","now","x-ray-datasource",%7B"queryType":"getTraceSummaries"%7D,%7B%22ui%22:%5Btrue,true,true,%22none%22%5D%7D%5D';
+        '["now-1h","now","x-ray-datasource",{"queryType":"getTraceSummaries"},{"ui":[true,true,true,"none"]}]';
       expect(parseUrlState(paramValue)).toMatchObject({
         datasource: 'x-ray-datasource',
         queries: [{ queryType: 'getTraceSummaries' }],
diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
index d2f3edbc691..691b1d93a9d 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ export const safeParseJson = (text?: string): any | undefined => {
   }
 
   try {
-    return JSON.parse(decodeURI(text));
+    return JSON.parse(text);
   } catch (error) {
     console.error(error);
   }