diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c7e97db3d..4568027a4 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1868,6 +1868,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "typed-path",
  "typetag",
  "url",
+ "urlencoding",
  "warp",
  "zstd",
 ]
diff --git a/icechunk/Cargo.toml b/icechunk/Cargo.toml
index d380fe2d9..e3fbe8f2c 100644
--- a/icechunk/Cargo.toml
+++ b/icechunk/Cargo.toml
@@ -65,8 +65,9 @@ anyhow = { version = "1.0.100", optional = true }
 dialoguer = { version = "0.12.0", optional = true }
 dirs = { version = "6.0.0", optional = true }
 assert_fs = { version = "1.1.3", optional = true }
-flatbuffers = "25.2.10"
 flexbuffers = "25.9.23"
+flatbuffers = "25.9.23"
+urlencoding = "2.1.3"
 
 # reqwest's default-features enables default-tls which ultimately leads to an openssl dependencies
 # which we are not including as it is not included in manylinux wheels. Instead depend on rustls-tls only
diff --git a/icechunk/src/format/manifest.rs b/icechunk/src/format/manifest.rs
index ead283ee5..44bcd52e6 100644
--- a/icechunk/src/format/manifest.rs
+++ b/icechunk/src/format/manifest.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use std::{
     convert::Infallible,
     iter::zip,
     ops::Range,
+    string::FromUtf8Error,
     sync::Arc,
 };
 
@@ -241,6 +242,8 @@ pub enum VirtualReferenceErrorKind {
     InvalidObjectSize { expected: u64, available: u64 },
     #[error("azure store configuration must include an account")]
     AzureConfigurationMustIncludeAccount,
+    #[error("decoding virtual chunk url")]
+    Decoding(#[from] FromUtf8Error),
     #[error("unknown error")]
     OtherError(#[from] Box<dyn std::error::Error + Send + Sync>),
 }
diff --git a/icechunk/src/virtual_chunks.rs b/icechunk/src/virtual_chunks.rs
index bf0062ee3..27e2f412f 100644
--- a/icechunk/src/virtual_chunks.rs
+++ b/icechunk/src/virtual_chunks.rs
@@ -572,8 +572,8 @@ impl ChunkFetcher for S3Fetcher {
             ))?
         };
 
-        let key = chunk_location.path();
-        let key = key.strip_prefix('/').unwrap_or(key);
+        let key = urlencoding::decode(chunk_location.path())?;
+        let key = key.strip_prefix('/').unwrap_or(key.as_ref());
 
         let mut b = self
             .client
@@ -771,7 +771,7 @@ impl ChunkFetcher for ObjectStoreFetcher {
             None => {}
         }
 
-        let path = Path::parse(chunk_location.path())
+        let path = Path::parse(urlencoding::decode(chunk_location.path())?)
             .map_err(|e| VirtualReferenceErrorKind::OtherError(Box::new(e)))?;
 
         match self.client.get_opts(&path, options).await {
diff --git a/icechunk/tests/test_virtual_refs.rs b/icechunk/tests/test_virtual_refs.rs
index ef06396ef..6db877cd0 100644
--- a/icechunk/tests/test_virtual_refs.rs
+++ b/icechunk/tests/test_virtual_refs.rs
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ async fn test_repository_with_minio_virtual_refs() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>>
     let bytes2 = Bytes::copy_from_slice(b"second0000");
     let chunks = [
         ("/path/to/chunk-1".into(), bytes1.clone()),
-        ("/path/to/chunk-2".into(), bytes2.clone()),
+        ("/path with spaces/to/chunk-2".into(), bytes2.clone()),
     ];
     write_chunks_to_minio(chunks.iter().cloned()).await;
 
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ async fn test_zarr_store_virtual_refs_minio_set_and_get()
     let bytes2 = Bytes::copy_from_slice(b"second0000");
     let chunks = [
         ("/path/to/chunk-1".into(), bytes1.clone()),
-        ("/path/to/chunk-2".into(), bytes2.clone()),
+        ("/path with spaces/to/chunk-2".into(), bytes2.clone()),
     ];
     write_chunks_to_minio(chunks.iter().cloned()).await;
 
@@ -867,7 +867,7 @@ async fn test_zarr_store_with_multiple_virtual_chunk_containers()
     let minio_bytes3 = Bytes::copy_from_slice(b"modified");
     let chunks = [
         ("/path/to/chunk-1".into(), minio_bytes1.clone()),
-        ("/path/to/chunk-2".into(), minio_bytes2.clone()),
+        ("/path with spaces/to/chunk-2".into(), minio_bytes2.clone()),
         ("/path/to/chunk-3".into(), minio_bytes3.clone()),
     ];
     write_chunks_to_minio(chunks.iter().cloned()).await;
@@ -1047,7 +1047,7 @@ async fn test_zarr_store_with_multiple_virtual_chunk_containers()
         [
             "s3://earthmover-sample-data/netcdf/oscar_vel2018.nc".to_string(),
             "s3://testbucket/path/to/chunk-1".to_string(),
-            "s3://testbucket/path/to/chunk-2".to_string(),
+            "s3://testbucket/path%20with%20spaces/to/chunk-2".to_string(),
             "s3://testbucket/path/to/chunk-3".to_string(),
             format!("file://{}", local_chunks[0].0),
             format!("file://{}", local_chunks[1].0),