diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 5b1dd05cb..3aa872bd3 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - #1063 URLs in the topic / subject are not clickable
 - #1190 MUC Participants column disappears in certain viewport widths
 - #1199 Can't get back from to login screen from registration screen
+- #1204 Link encoding issue
 - #1214 Setting `allow_contact_requests` to `false` has no effect
 - #1222 Adding a bookmark should prefill the room name
 
diff --git a/dist/converse.js b/dist/converse.js
index fbb54e0c2..63f884767 100644
--- a/dist/converse.js
+++ b/dist/converse.js
@@ -81570,10 +81570,6 @@ var __WEBPACK_AMD_DEFINE_FACTORY__, __WEBPACK_AMD_DEFINE_ARRAY__, __WEBPACK_AMD_
     return string.replace(/&/g, "&amp;").replace(/</g, "&lt;").replace(/>/g, "&gt;").replace(/"/g, "&quot;");
   };
 
-  u.escapeURL = function (url) {
-    return encodeURI(decodeURI(url)).replace(/[!'()]/g, escape).replace(/\*/g, "%2A");
-  };
-
   u.prefixMentions = function (message) {
     /* Given a message object, return its text with @ chars
      * inserted before the mentioned nicknames.
@@ -81607,14 +81603,13 @@ var __WEBPACK_AMD_DEFINE_FACTORY__, __WEBPACK_AMD_DEFINE_ARRAY__, __WEBPACK_AMD_
   u.addHyperlinks = function (text) {
     return URI.withinString(text, url => {
       const uri = new URI(url);
-      uri.normalize();
+      url = uri.normalize()._string;
       const pretty_url = uri._parts.urn ? url : uri.readable();
 
       if (!uri._parts.protocol && !url.startsWith('http://') && !url.startsWith('https://')) {
         url = 'http://' + url;
       }
 
-      url = u.escapeHTML(u.escapeURL(url));
       return `<a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="${url}">${u.escapeHTML(pretty_url)}</a>`;
     }, {
       'start': /\b(?:([a-z][a-z0-9.+-]*:\/\/)|xmpp:|mailto:|www\.)/gi
diff --git a/src/utils/core.js b/src/utils/core.js
index 1839c5505..742bc7b54 100644
--- a/src/utils/core.js
+++ b/src/utils/core.js
@@ -228,10 +228,6 @@
             .replace(/"/g, "&quot;");
     };
 
-    u.escapeURL = function (url) {
-        return encodeURI(decodeURI(url)).replace(/[!'()]/g, escape).replace(/\*/g, "%2A");
-    };
-
     u.prefixMentions = function (message) {
         /* Given a message object, return its text with @ chars
          * inserted before the mentioned nicknames.
@@ -267,12 +263,11 @@
     u.addHyperlinks = function (text) {
         return URI.withinString(text, url => {
             const uri = new URI(url);
-            uri.normalize();
+            url = uri.normalize()._string;
             const pretty_url = uri._parts.urn ? url : uri.readable();
             if (!uri._parts.protocol && !url.startsWith('http://') && !url.startsWith('https://')) {
                 url = 'http://' + url;
             }
-            url = u.escapeHTML(u.escapeURL(url));
             return `<a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="${url}">${u.escapeHTML(pretty_url)}</a>`;
         }, {
             'start': /\b(?:([a-z][a-z0-9.+-]*:\/\/)|xmpp:|mailto:|www\.)/gi