Youtube is the most popular video-streaming and sharing website in the world. We all use the Youtube domain or app to watch songs, trailers, and all kinds of videos.
There is another URL that you might get confused with which is youtu.be. Apparently, there is not much difference between the two URLs.
Key Takeaways
- Youtube.com allows users to upload, view, and share videos while Youtu.be is a shortened URL for Youtube videos.
- Youtu.be links are shorter and easier to share than Youtube.com links.
- Both platforms offer similar video content and features.
Youtube.com vs youtu.be
The difference between Youtube.com vs Youtu.be is that Youtube.com is a top-level domain while Youtu.be is a shortened URL for youtube. Youtu.be is not a top-level domain(TLD). It is specifically specified as a country domain. It’s ccTLD, i.e. country code top-level domain. The country youtu.be specified for Belgium.
Youtube has a popular top-level domain that can be used worldwide. Indeed, It is the most visited website in the world. This online video-sharing platform was launched in February 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. In 2006, Google got hold of Youtube.
In 2009, Google launched the shortened URL, youtu.be. Youtu.be will provide the same video streaming service to you. In fact, it will take you to the same homepage as youtube. And you will see the same website in the address bar.
Youtu.be is not another domain. It’s just like an abbreviation for youtube.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Youtube.com | Youtu.be |
|---|---|---|
| Type of Domain | It is a Top-level domain, uses .com domain. | It is a Country-code top-level domain. Uses .be ccTLD domain. |
| Platform | Video sharing popular platform | A shortened URL for Youtube, which will take you to the same page. |
| Specification | It is Globally registered. | Specified to the country, Belgium. |
| Year of Launch | Youtube was launched in 2005 | The shortened URL youtu.be was launched in 2009. |
| Purpose | Youtube was launched to be a video sharing platform | Youtu.be URL was launched to protect the domain and not let anyone else misuse it. |
What is Youtube.com?
Youtube is an American social media Platform. It is a video streaming as well as a sharing platform.
You can see all kinds of videos like music, comedy, movie and TV series trailers, kids’ videos, educational, academic videos, short films, documentaries, etc.
And you can watch live streams as well. All the leading companies, like T series, Disney, etc., share and launch their new videos on Youtube. People can earn money through youtube by sharing videos.
The more subscribers on the channel and views on a video, the more money you can get.
Youtube is a big, socially formed platform with a billion monthly users. It has billions of hours of content on thousands of different topics.
You can watch many free videos and can rent movies as well, like or dislike videos, comment on your thoughts, add videos to watch later, make playlists, etc. Indeed, you can change the resolution according to your comfort.
However, Youtube doesn’t show illegitimate content. It has censorship and cuts.
After Google purchased Youtube, youtube is not limited to its app and website, and you can also link it to other services like Twitter, Discord, and Nintendo. Companies use youtube as a platform to market their products and services.
Multimillionaire celebrities too use youtube to share their videos and interests.
What is Youtu.be?
Youtu.be is a shortened URL for youtube.com. The domain Youtu.be is owned by youtube as well.
This URL is not so much different from youtube.com. This will also take you to youtube’s website.
The only difference is that this domain is a country code top-level domain which is specified to Belgium. However, it is not specified that other countries cant use this domain.
Google has registered this domain for a global purpose. ccTLDs can be registered for any purpose by anyone around the world.
The URL may be shortened for two reasons. One reason can be that other people can’t take the URL and confuse people with it.
People can use the URL to make people think that it’s youtube and hack other computers or inject malware into them. It can be so misleading, so youtube owned the URL to protect the domain, and other reasons can follow the trend of using domain hacks.
Each video is given a different URL that has many characters. Shortening the URL will help in shortening the URLs of the videos as well.
As of now, by launching Youtu.be, youtube has cut short the URL by 15 characters. Twitter also uses this strategy.
Main Differences Between Youtube.com and Youtu.be
- Youtube.com is the main popular video streaming platform, while Youtu.be is the shortened URL for youtube itself.
- Youtube.com is a top-level domain, while youtu.be is a county code high-level domain.
- Youtube.com has .com domain which is a commercial entity worldwide, while youtu.be has .be domain which is specified to the country of Belgium.
- Youtu.be domain name was launched by Google in 2009 to protect the domain from being misused.
- Youtu.be is used to shorten the URL and make it easy for people to remember. Shortening URLs will help youtube shorten the URL of specific videos as well. Youtu.be will also take you to youtube’s main page.
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
