ProxyNestProxy list formats explained: ip:port:user:pass, user:pass@ip:port and URLs
A proxy is four pieces of information: host (IP or hostname), port, and — for authenticated proxies — a username and password. Plus the protocol, which the string often leaves out. Sellers glue these together in different orders.
| Format | Example | Common with |
|---|---|---|
ip:port | 203.0.113.10:8080 | IP-whitelisted proxies, free lists |
ip:port:user:pass | 203.0.113.10:8080:alice:s3cret | Most datacenter and ISP proxy shops |
user:pass:ip:port | alice:s3cret:203.0.113.10:8080 | Some residential dashboards |
user:pass@ip:port | alice:s3cret@203.0.113.10:8080 | Residential gateways, scripts |
| URL | http://alice:s3cret@gate.example.net:7000 | cURL, Python requests, Puppeteer |
How to tell host from username
The port is always a number from 1 to 65535 next to the host. In alice:s3cret:203.0.113.10:8080 the last two parts are an IP and a port, so the first two are the login. A password may itself contain : — that is why the safe rule is to find the host:port pair first and treat the rest as credentials.
The protocol is not in the string
203.0.113.10:1080 could be SOCKS5 or HTTP. Port 1080 is traditionally SOCKS, 8080/3128 HTTP, but providers use any port. Check the seller’s dashboard. In a URL the scheme says it: socks5://, http://, https:// (an HTTPS proxy means the connection to the proxy is encrypted).
Special characters in URLs
In URL form, @, : and / inside a username or password must be percent-encoded: p@ss becomes p%40ss. ProxyNest decodes these on import and encodes them on export.
ProxyNest pastes any proxy list, logs in automatically and checks every proxy’s IP, location and speed — free for up to 3 proxies.
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Converting a list
Paste the list into ProxyNest in whatever format you have, then use Import / export to copy it back out as ip:port:user:pass, user:pass@ip:port or URLs. Nothing is uploaded — the conversion happens in your browser.