URL expander — see where a short link really goes.
Paste a shortened link from bit.ly, t.co, tinyurl or any other service. This short URL checker follows it and shows the real destination without you having to open it.
Expand a short link
Live checkTurn any long URL into a short, trackable link.
Once the destination checks out, shorten it with click analytics by source, location and device, all in one dashboard.
Why expand a short link first?
A short link hides its destination. Expanding it shows you the address before your browser visits it.
URL shorteners replace a long address with a short code that redirects to it. That is convenient for sharing, but it also means you can't tell where a link goes just by looking at it.
Expanding the link resolves that code the same way a browser would, then reports the address it ends up at, along with every hop it took to get there. Some short links point to another short link, so the chain can be longer than it looks.
It is a quick sanity check before you click a link from an email, a message or a QR code, and a handy way to see which tracking parameters a campaign link carries.
Common questions
Is it safe to expand a link with this tool? +
The link is requested by our server, so your device never connects to the destination. We read only the redirect headers and don't run any scripts the page contains.
Which shorteners does it work with? +
Any of them. It doesn't rely on a list of services: it follows the HTTP redirects the same way a browser would, so bit.ly, t.co, tinyurl, ow.ly, custom branded domains and others all work.
Why does the destination look different from what I expected? +
Many short links add tracking parameters, or redirect through an affiliate or ad network before reaching the final page. The hop list shows each step.
What if the link goes through a page that asks me to click? +
Interstitial pages and JavaScript or meta-refresh redirects can't be followed from the HTTP level. The tool shows the last address it could reach.