Lightning BOLT11 Invoice Decoder

Inspect the network, requested amount, expiry, payment fields, fallback address, routing hints, and signed payload of a BOLT11 invoice.

Decoder details

What the Lightning decoder checks

Validation checks

  • BOLT11 prefix, Bech32 character rules, tagged fields, and invoice decoding.
  • Mainnet, testnet, or regtest network prefix and optional requested amount.
  • Required payment hash, payment secret, description, feature bits, signature, and expiry semantics.

Supported inputs

  • lnbc mainnet invoices
  • lntb testnet invoices
  • lnbcrt regtest invoices
  • lightning: payment URIs

What this tool cannot verify

  • Successful decoding does not confirm that a payment will route or that the payee is trustworthy.
  • Expired invoices should be replaced with a new invoice from the intended recipient.

Technical references

Common questions

What information can a BOLT11 invoice contain?

A BOLT11 invoice can encode a network, amount, payment hash, expiry, description or description hash, fallback address, routing hints, and signature data.

Does decoding prove that a Lightning payment will succeed?

No. Decoding verifies supported invoice structure and exposes its fields, but it cannot confirm route liquidity, node availability, or recipient trust.