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Tools / Safelink & URL decoder

Safelink & URL decoder

Decode and extract destination URLs hidden behind Microsoft Outlook SafeLinks, Proofpoint URL Defense, Google redirect notices, and Facebook link shims. Strips UTM, tracking parameters, and click-identifiers automatically.

Runs entirely in your browser

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About this tool

Links in email and on social platforms are often not what they appear to be. Security products such as Microsoft Outlook SafeLinks and Proofpoint URL Defense, and redirect shims from Google and Facebook, wrap the real destination inside their own long, opaque URL so they can scan or log the click first. The result is unreadable, hard to verify, and frequently stuffed with tracking parameters.

This tool unwraps those wrapped links to reveal the true destination, and strips common tracking cruft — UTM campaign tags, click identifiers and similar parameters — so you are left with a clean, canonical URL. Seeing where a link actually points before you follow it is a simple, effective defence against phishing, and the cleaned link is nicer to share or save.

The decoding runs entirely in your browser, so the URLs you paste — which may come from private email — are not sent anywhere. It resolves the wrapping and known redirect patterns rather than following the link, so it does not visit the destination on your behalf; you stay in control of whether to open it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a SafeLink or wrapped URL?
It is a link rewritten by a security product — such as Outlook SafeLinks or Proofpoint URL Defense — or by a platform redirect shim, so that clicks pass through their system first. The real destination is hidden inside a long, opaque URL.
Why would I want to decode one?
To see exactly where a link leads before you click it, which helps you spot phishing, and to obtain a clean, shareable URL free of the wrapping and tracking parameters.
Which wrappers and trackers does it handle?
It unwraps Microsoft Outlook SafeLinks, Proofpoint URL Defense, Google redirect notices and Facebook link shims, and it strips UTM tags, click identifiers and similar tracking parameters automatically.
Does decoding a link visit the destination?
No. It resolves the wrapping and known redirect patterns locally to reveal the target URL, without opening it. You decide whether to follow the cleaned link.
Are the links I paste kept private?
Yes. Decoding happens in your browser, so URLs from private email or messages are not sent to our server.

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