URL expander: see where a short link goes.
Paste a bit.ly, t.co, tinyurl or any other short link. We follow its redirects for you — without opening the page — and show every hop, the final destination and any warning signs.
Different from our other tools: short links can only be expanded by asking the shortener, so the link you paste is sent to our server, which follows the redirects and reports them. We don’t store or log the links, and the destination page is never downloaded or shown.
How it works
A short link is just a redirect: bit.ly/abc answers with an HTTP 301 or 302 status and a Location header naming the real address. The expander sends a request to each address in turn, reads only the status and Location header, and stops when it reaches a page that doesn’t redirect — up to 10 hops.
- 301 / 308 — permanent redirect. 302 / 303 / 307 — temporary redirect.
- 200 — the final page.
- 4xx / 5xx — the link is broken, removed, or the site refused the request.
What it won’t do
- It doesn’t run JavaScript or read the page, so redirects done in page scripts or
<meta refresh>tags aren’t followed. Most shorteners use real HTTP redirects. - It won’t follow links to private or internal network addresses, non-web ports, or addresses with a user name before “@”.
- It is rate-limited to keep the service available.
Links from email filters
Microsoft Safe Links, Proofpoint and similar wrappers aren’t redirects you need to follow — the destination is written inside the link. Use the SafeLinks decoder, which works entirely in your browser.
Sources & standards
- RFC 9110 §15.4 — Redirection 3xx and §10.2.2 — the Location header. rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110
- RFC 3986 §5 — resolving relative Location values. rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3986
Common questions.
Paste it above. The expander follows the redirects on our server and shows each step and the final address — your browser never opens the page.
Expanding only reads redirect headers; the destination page isn’t downloaded or run. Still, treat the final address with care, and check the warnings shown with it.
It stops at 10 redirects, at redirect loops, at private or internal network addresses, and at non-web ports. Some sites also block automated requests.
No. Links are processed and discarded; they aren’t logged or stored. Only an anonymous, daily-rotating request counter is kept for rate limiting.
More from the toolkit.
About this page. Written and maintained by Sri Murugan Systems, the developer of urlencodedecode.com. This is the one tool on the site that sends your input to our server; links are not stored or logged.