Tinker Tools

URL Shortener Instantly

Shorten long URLs into compact, shareable links using the TinyURL API. Only the URL text is sent—no files or personal data are transmitted.

Results

Enter a URL to shorten

Paste a long URL in the sidebar and click "Shorten URL"

How it works

1. Paste Your URL

Enter any long URL into the input field. The tool accepts any valid URL starting with http:// or https://.

Quick Input

2. Generate Short Link

Click "Shorten URL" and the TinyURL API instantly creates a compact redirect link. Only your URL text is sent to the API.

Privacy First

3. Copy & Share

Copy the shortened URL with one click and share it anywhere. Your session history keeps track of all URLs shortened during your visit.

One-Click Copy

What is URL Shortening?

A URL shortener takes a long web address and produces a much shorter one that redirects to the original. The short URL typically lives on a dedicated domain -- like bit.ly, t.co, or tinyurl.com -- and consists of a base domain followed by a short alphanumeric code. When someone clicks the short link, the shortening service looks up the code in its database, finds the corresponding long URL, and sends an HTTP redirect response that sends the browser to the final destination. The entire process takes milliseconds and is invisible to the end user. They click a 20-character link and land on a page whose real URL might be 200 characters long.

The mechanics under the hood are straightforward. When you submit a long URL, the service generates a unique identifier for it. This identifier can be produced in several ways: a hash function applied to the URL and truncated to a fixed length, a sequential counter encoded in base62 (using a-z, A-Z, 0-9 to maximize density), or a random string generated and checked against existing entries to avoid collisions. The identifier becomes the path component of the short URL. The service stores the mapping in a key-value database -- something like Redis, DynamoDB, or a simple relational table -- where the key is the short code and the value is the original URL. Lookups happen in constant time regardless of how many URLs the service has stored.

URL shorteners became popular in the era of character-limited platforms, most notably Twitter's 140-character constraint. But their utility goes beyond saving characters. Marketers use them to track click-through rates across campaigns. Developers use them to create clean, shareable links for API documentation and support tickets. Print media uses them because nobody is going to type a 150-character URL from a magazine advertisement. The trade-off is that you are adding a dependency -- if the shortening service goes down or shuts down entirely, every short link it ever created stops working. That is the link rot problem, and it is a real concern for any link you expect to last longer than a few months.

Key Features and Benefits

  • Hash-Based Short Code Generation — The tool generates short codes using a hash-based approach that maps each input URL to a compact alphanumeric string. A base62 encoding scheme gives you 62 possible characters per position, which means a 7-character code can represent over 3.5 trillion unique URLs (62^7 = 3,521,614,606,208). Collision handling ensures that two different long URLs never produce the same short code -- if a collision is detected, the system rehashes with a salt or increments an internal counter.
  • 301 and 302 Redirect Options — HTTP redirects come in two flavors that matter here. A 301 (Moved Permanently) tells the browser and search engines to cache the redirect and go directly to the final URL in the future. A 302 (Found) tells the browser this redirect is temporary -- check with the shortener again next time. For analytics, 302 is better because every click passes through the shortener's server, letting you count it. For SEO, 301 is better because it passes link equity to the destination. Most shortening services default to 301 but let you choose.
  • Click Analytics and Tracking — Every time someone clicks a shortened URL, the redirect server can log the timestamp, referrer, geographic location derived from IP address, device type, operating system, and browser. This data lets you answer questions like: how many people clicked this link, where are they located, what percentage are on mobile, and which social platform drove the most traffic. You get campaign-level insights without embedding tracking pixels or JavaScript on the destination page.
  • Custom Aliases — Instead of an auto-generated code like /a7Bx3kQ, you can define a custom alias like /spring-sale or /docs-v2. Custom aliases are readable, memorable, and branded. The constraint is that they must be unique within the shortener's namespace -- if someone already claimed /promo, you need a different alias. Good shortening tools validate the alias against reserved words and existing entries before accepting it.
  • Expiration and Link Management — Set an expiration date on shortened links so they automatically stop working after a campaign ends or a document becomes outdated. This is useful for time-sensitive promotions, one-time access links, and temporary file sharing. Expired links can return a 410 (Gone) status code, which tells search engines to remove the URL from their index. You can also disable or re-enable links manually without deleting the underlying mapping.
  • Public API Access — Most URL shortening services expose a REST API that lets you create, update, delete, and query short links programmatically. A typical API call sends a POST request with the long URL in the JSON body and receives the short URL in the response. Rate limits vary by service -- free tiers might allow 100 requests per hour while paid plans handle thousands per minute. API access lets you integrate shortening into build scripts, CI/CD pipelines, email templates, and notification systems without manual intervention.

How to Shorten a URL

  1. 1

    Enter the Long URL

    Paste the full URL you want to shorten into the input field. This can be any valid HTTP or HTTPS URL -- a product page, a documentation link, a Google Maps location, a file download link, or an API endpoint. The tool validates the URL format before processing. If your URL contains query parameters or fragment identifiers, they are preserved in the redirect. Make sure the original URL actually works before shortening it -- a short link to a 404 page helps nobody.

  2. 2

    Choose a Custom Alias or Accept the Default

    You can enter a custom slug like my-project-docs or let the system generate a random short code. Custom aliases should be lowercase, use hyphens instead of spaces, and stay short enough to actually be useful -- a 30-character alias defeats the purpose. If the alias you want is already taken, the tool tells you immediately. For one-off sharing, the auto-generated code is fine. For branded links that appear in presentations, emails, or print materials, invest the few seconds to pick something meaningful.

  3. 3

    Configure Redirect Type and Expiration

    Select whether the redirect should use a 301 or 302 status code. If you need click tracking, go with 302 so each click passes through the redirect server. If SEO matters -- for example, you are shortening a canonical URL for a permanent resource -- use 301. Optionally set an expiration date. Links for event promotions might expire the day after the event. Links for documentation pages might have no expiration at all. The default is no expiration, which means the link lives as long as the service does.

  4. 4

    Generate and Copy the Short URL

    Click the shorten button. The tool generates the short URL and displays it alongside the original. Copy it with one click. The short URL is live immediately -- you can test it by opening it in a new tab. If you configured analytics, the first click from your test will appear in the dashboard. Store the short URL and its mapping somewhere safe. If you lose the management link or API token, you may not be able to edit or delete the short URL later.

  5. 5

    Monitor and Manage the Link

    After distributing the short URL, check the analytics dashboard to see how it performs. Track total clicks, unique visitors, geographic distribution, and referral sources. If the destination URL changes -- say the documentation page moved to a new path -- update the mapping so the short URL points to the new location. This is one of the key advantages of URL shortening: you can change where a link goes without changing the link itself. Anyone who bookmarked or shared the short URL automatically gets redirected to the updated destination.

Expert Tips for URL Shortening

Be deliberate about the redirect status code you use. The difference between 301 and 302 has real consequences. A 301 redirect gets cached aggressively by browsers and CDN layers. Once a user's browser has seen a 301 from your short URL to the destination, it may skip the redirect server entirely on subsequent visits. That means your analytics miss repeat clicks, and if you later change the destination URL, cached 301 responses will keep sending users to the old location until the cache expires. A 302 redirect avoids this because browsers treat it as temporary and re-check the redirect server on every request. If you need both accurate analytics and the ability to update the destination, 302 is the safer default. Reserve 301 for truly permanent redirects where you want search engines to transfer ranking signals to the destination.

Link rot is the biggest long-term risk of URL shortening. When a shortening service shuts down -- and many have, including Google's goo.gl -- every link it ever created becomes a dead end. This happened at scale when goo.gl closed in 2019, breaking millions of links across the web. To protect yourself, use shortening services that have been stable for years and offer data export. For critical links -- documentation, published papers, legal documents -- consider running your own shortener on a domain you control. Self-hosted solutions like YOURLS, Shlink, and Kutt give you full ownership of the redirect database. If the software stops being maintained, your links still work because you control the domain and the data.

UTM parameters and URL shortening work well together, but the order matters. Build your full URL with UTM tags first -- utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content -- and then shorten the entire thing. The short URL hides the messy parameter string from the user while preserving every tracking tag for your analytics platform. A common mistake is shortening a clean URL and then appending UTM parameters to the short URL itself. Most shorteners do not pass query parameters through to the destination, so your tracking tags get silently dropped. Always apply tracking parameters to the destination URL before shortening.

Think carefully before shortening URLs in contexts where trust matters. A short URL hides the real destination, which is exactly what phishing attacks rely on. Email recipients, especially in corporate environments, are trained to be suspicious of links they cannot inspect. If you are sending a link to a client, a partner, or an internal team, consider whether the short URL adds enough value to justify the loss of transparency. In high-trust contexts -- internal documentation, official communications, contracts -- use the full URL. Save URL shortening for marketing campaigns, social media, SMS messages, and situations where character count or readability genuinely matters. Some organizations block short URL domains entirely at the firewall level, so your carefully crafted link might not even reach its audience.

Related Tools

URL Encoder

Encode long URLs before shortening them

QR Code Generator

Create QR codes from shortened URLs

Base64 Converter

Encode tracking parameters in shortened links

URL shortening is often one step in a larger workflow. You might URL-encode a destination address that contains special characters, shorten the encoded URL, and then generate a QR code from the short link for print materials. Or you might Base64-encode tracking metadata, append it as a parameter to the destination URL, and shorten the result to keep it clean. These tools work together to handle the full lifecycle of creating, distributing, and tracking links across digital and physical channels.

Frequently Asked Questions

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