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URL Shortener · YouTube Link Shortener

Shorten and tag a YouTube video link

Paste a video link and get a short one that keeps the start time, with campaign tags and a click counter if you want them. Free.

Press Enter or the Shorten button.

More options custom back-half, expiry, password, campaign tags
Appearance
Letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. Leave empty for a random one.
Access and expiry
In your time zone (UTC).
Before then, visitors see when it goes live.
Visitors type it before they’re sent on.
Tracking
Redirect type

Want different pages for different countries, phones or times of day, or an A/B test? Set that up after you create the link.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Every link safety-checked
  • QR code with every link

How to shorten a YouTube link

  1. STEP 01

    Copy the video’s link

    Use Share under the video. Tick “Start at” first if you want it to begin at a particular moment.

  2. STEP 02

    Paste it above and press Shorten

    Add an ending, like /setup-guide, under More options so people can tell what it is.

  3. STEP 03

    Share it

    One short link per place you post it lets you see which place brought the most viewers.

Video links get pasted into descriptions, slides, printed booklets and other people’s posts. A short link with a clear ending reads better in all of them, and lets you measure each place separately.

Start time kept

If the link starts the video at 1:30, the short link does too. Nothing in the address is changed.

One video, many links

Make a separate short link for each place you share the same video. The click counts show which one worked.

Replace a video later

Uploaded a better version? Point the short link at it, and every old post and printed page leads to the new one.

Shorts and playlists too

Any YouTube address works: a video, a Short, a playlist or your channel.

Counting views from each place

YouTube Studio tells you a lot, but not which of your own posts sent a viewer. A short link does: every click is counted by day, country and device, and by the site the person came from when their app passes that on.

Campaign tags (UTM) don’t help here, because YouTube’s own reports ignore them. They’re worth adding when the link goes to your website, where your analytics reads them. For YouTube links, a separate short link per place does the job instead.

Things to know

  • A click isn’t a view. We count people who opened the link; YouTube decides what counts as a view.
  • Private videos stay private. People who open the link still need YouTube permission to watch an unlisted or private video.
  • Links to other shorteners are refused. youtu.be links are fine, since they go straight to YouTube.

Questions about YouTube short links

Will the short link keep my start time?

Yes. The full address, including the t= part that sets the start time, is kept exactly as you pasted it.

Can I shorten a youtu.be link?

Yes. youtu.be is YouTube’s own address and goes straight to the video, so it’s accepted.

Do UTM tags work with YouTube?

YouTube Studio doesn’t use them. Make one short link per place you share the video instead, and compare their click counts.

Does a click count as a YouTube view?

Not necessarily. We count people who opened the link; YouTube has its own rules for counting a view.

Is it free?

Yes, every feature, with no account needed.