Why T.LY is the World’s Shortest URL Shortener

Have you ever wondered how a URL shortener works? At its core, they take a long, link and assign it a unique ID. This ID acts as a shortcut: when someone clicks the short URL, the system looks up the original long URL in its database and redirects the user to it. It’s a simple concept and why so many developers have created their own URL shorteners over the years.

However, there’s a catch. As billions—or even trillions—of short links are created, the pool of unique, short IDs starts to shrink. Eventually, the “short” URLs might not be so short any more. For example, if we take a look at TinyURL. As one of the first URL shorteners launched in 2002, its links today are often over 28 characters long. This means its possible they’ve generated over 3 trillion unique URLs, causing their short links to grow in length over time.

This is where T.LY has an advantage. By using a 3-letter short domain and a newer service with only millions of short links created so far. T.LY links are actually short and a great alternative if length matters.

Why T.LY?

When Google announced they were shutting down their URL shortener service Goo.gl, the idea for T.LY became a reality. We knew that users would be looking for alternatives and the market was ripe for a new shortener service. We focused on building a service that is simple and affordable to provide users with the shortest possible links.

Key Features of T.LY

1. Ultra-Short URLs: T.LY’s primary selling point is its short URLs. Using a tiny domain ensures that the links you share are as short as possible. This is especially useful for SMS and users manually typing in urls.
2. Customizable Smart Links: A simple way to redirect users to different URLs depending on their device, location, and browser. This feature is great for country and device-specific apps.
3. Analytics: Detailed analytics for each shortened link. You can track clicks, the geographic location of the audience, and the referrer, allowing you to gauge the effectiveness of your links.
4. QR Codes: Each T.LY link can be converted into a QR code, making it easy to share URLs in physical formats such as flyers, business cards, or presentations.
5. API Access: T.LY offers API access for developers, enabling the integration of its URL-shortening capabilities into custom applications or workflows.

Why T.LY is the World’s Shortest URL Shortener

• Domain Length: The domain, T.LY, consists of only four characters. When combined with the minimal suffix, this ensures that the resulting URLs are some of the shortest possible. For example, a typical T.LY link looks like this: https://t.ly/abcd. The entire URL, including the protocol, is only 17 characters long.
• New Service: T.LY has not been around as long as some of the other services which means alot of back halves of URLs have not been taken.

Limits on URL Shorteners

Ever wonder how many short URLs are possible on a domain? It depends on the number of characters, but most shorteners use (A-Z, a-z, and 0-9 to make up all the possible URL combinations. This means there are 62 possible characters.

• Two character URLs 3,844 (62^2) unique combinations
• Three character URLs 238,328 (62^3) unique combinations
• Four character URLs 14,776,336 (62^4) unique combinations
• Five character URLs 916,132,832 (62^5) unique combinations
• Six character URLs 56,800,235,584 (62^6) unique combinations
• Seven character URLs 3,521,614,606,208 (62^7) unique combinations
• Eight character URLs 218,340,105,584,896 (62^8) unique combinations

Size Matters

We all know size matters especially when it comes to a user trying to manually type in a url and getting frustrated. Whether a billboard, sign, or podcast host promoting a product, the odds of someone manually typing in a URL that is over 10 characters correctly are slim. Switch to T.LY and start creating actual short links.