YouTube Link Shortener

YouTube already shortens video links, but you cannot choose the ending

Press Share under any video and YouTube gives you a youtu.be link. If that is all you need, use it. It is short and it works.

A youtu.be link always ends in the video's ID, a string such as dQw4w9WgXcQ. Nobody can remember that or read it off a slide. YouTube Studio reports views, not how many people opened one link you shared. And playlists and channels get no youtu.be link at all.

A zip1.io link fixes those three things. You pick the ending, you see how many people open it, and it works for any YouTube page.

Shorten a YouTube link in three steps

1. On YouTube, open the video, playlist or channel and copy its address. The Share button works, and so does the address bar.
2. Paste it into the box on the zip1.io home page. To choose your own ending, the part after zip1.io/, open Advanced Options and type it under Custom alias.
3. Press Shorten. Copy the short link, or download its QR code.

The short link opens the exact address you saved. If that address starts the video at a certain time, the short link does too. To add a start time first, use the YouTube timestamp link generator.

An ending you choose works where people cannot click

Most links to a video are shared somewhere a viewer has to type them or scan them.

• Said out loud. In a podcast, a talk or a class, "zip1.io slash knitting" is something people can remember.
• On a slide or a handout. A short ending can be typed in a few seconds. The QR code from a short link is simpler, so it scans more easily from the back of a room.
• In print. Flyers, packaging and posters can carry the link and the QR code side by side.
• In a profile or a caption. A readable ending tells people what they are about to open. A string of letters does not.

One short link per place shows where viewers came from

Make several short links to the same video, one for each place you share it: zip1.io/knit-ig for Instagram, zip1.io/knit-flyer for the printed flyer. Each one has its own count, so you can see which place sent people.

The stats page for each link shows total and unique clicks per day, plus country, browser, operating system and referring site, and the time of the last click. You can download the numbers as a spreadsheet. Read more on click tracking.

A click means someone opened the short link. It is not a YouTube view, and zip1.io cannot see how long anyone watched. Link previews in chat apps count as clicks too, and they are listed under bots, so you can tell them apart from people. Anyone with the short link can open its stats. Visitor IP addresses are stored to count unique visitors. They are never shown on the stats page or included in the export.

A short link can stop working when you want it to

Under Advanced Options you can set Max clicks or Expires at when you make the link. Use it for a preview you only want a class or a client to watch for a week. The video itself stays on YouTube; only the short link stops opening it. See self-destructing links for how the two settings work together.

A short link cannot be pointed at a different video later. If you upload a new version, make a new short link.

FAQ

• Does YouTube have its own short link?

  Yes, for videos. Press Share under a video and YouTube gives you a youtu.be link. It ends in the video's ID, which you cannot choose, and it shows you no count of who opened it. Use zip1.io when you want an ending you pick, a click count, or a short link to a playlist.

• Will the short link open the YouTube app?

  The short link sends the visitor to the YouTube address you saved. What happens next is the same as opening that address directly. The phone decides whether to open it in the app or the browser.

• Can I make the video start at a certain time?

  Yes. Use the YouTube timestamp link generator to add the start time, then shorten that link. The short link keeps the time.

• Is a click the same as a YouTube view?

  No. A click means someone opened the short link. YouTube decides what counts as a view, and zip1.io cannot see how long anyone watched. Link previews in chat apps also count as clicks, and they are listed under bots on the stats page.

• Can I change where the short link goes later?

  No. A short link keeps the YouTube address it was made with. For a new video, make a new short link.

• Who can see the click numbers?

  Anyone with the short link can open its stats page. It shows country, browser, operating system and referring site, and the time of the last click. Visitor IP addresses are stored to count unique visitors. They are never shown on the stats page or included in the export.

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