When it comes to video-sharing websites, YouTube is undoubtedly the most popular one out there. It has been around for more than a decade now and it is still going strong. And while there are other video-sharing websites out there, none of them come close to YouTube in terms of popularity.
One thing that sets YouTube apart from other video-sharing websites is that it has its own URL shortener known as youtu.be. This is a service that is provided by YouTube itself and it is used to create short URLs for YouTube videos.
So, what is the difference between YouTube and youtu.be? Well, the main difference is that youtu.be URLs are shorter than YouTube URLs. For example, a YouTube URL for a video might be something like this:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ”
Whereas, the corresponding youtu.be URL would be:
“https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ”
As you can see, the youtu.be URL is much shorter and it is also easier to remember.
Another difference between YouTube and youtu.be is that youtu.be URLs can be used to directly access a YouTube video without having to go through the YouTube website. For example, if you were to enter the following URL into your browser:
“https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ”
The browser would directly take you to the YouTube video with the ID dQw4w9WgXcQ without having to go through the YouTube website.
However, this is not possible with YouTube URLs. If you were to enter the following URL into your browser:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ”
The browser would simply take you to the YouTube website and would not play the video.
So, these are some of the main differences between YouTube and youtu.be. In general, youtu.be URLs are shorter and more convenient to use than YouTube URLs.
