Secure Link Preview — Reveal Where Shortened URLs Go
Preview the real destination of shortened URLs before clicking. Unshorten bit.ly, tinyurl, t.co, and other short links to check for phishing or malware.
Secure Link Preview
Analyze any URL to see its components, detect shorteners, and identify suspicious patterns before clicking.
This tool cannot follow redirects or fetch remote content
Due to browser security restrictions (CORS), we cannot actually follow shortened URLs or fetch page metadata from the browser. This analysis is based purely on parsing the URL string.
To see where a shortened URL actually leads, you can run this command in your terminal:
The -L flag follows redirects and -I fetches only headers. Each Location: header shows the next redirect in the chain.
Why preview links?
Previewing a URL before clicking helps you identify phishing attempts, malicious redirects, and tracking parameters. This is especially important on the dark web where links may impersonate legitimate services.
- URL shorteners hide the real destination -- always expand before visiting
- Phishing sites often use look-alike domains (e.g. g00gle.com instead of google.com)
- Query parameters may contain tracking identifiers that reveal your source
- HTTP (without S) means your traffic is unencrypted and can be intercepted
- Internationalized domain names (IDN) can use characters that look identical to ASCII letters