diff --git a/public/src/utils.js b/public/src/utils.js
index 60f27fed71..e3d76f0878 100644
--- a/public/src/utils.js
+++ b/public/src/utils.js
@@ -691,8 +691,9 @@
 		},
 
 		urlToLocation: function (url) {
-			url = encodeURI(url);
-			return $('<a href="' + url + '" />')[0];
+			var a = document.createElement('a');
+			a.href = url;
+			return a;
 		},
 
 		// return boolean if string 'true' or string 'false', or if a parsable string which is a number