7 min read
Why the shape of a link matters
A downloader needs an address that identifies one specific piece of media. Profile pages, feeds, search results and board pages all look like valid URLs but point at collections, not items.
Learning to recognise the difference at a glance saves far more time than retrying a failed paste.
Reels use instagram.com/reel/CODE. Feed posts use /p/CODE. IGTV uses /tv/CODE. Stories use /stories/username/ID. All four are single items and all four are recognised.
instagram.com/username on its own is a profile. So is anything ending in /reels/ (plural), which is the Reels tab of an account rather than one Reel.
TikTok
The canonical form is tiktok.com/@username/video/NUMBER. The app's Share sheet produces vm.tiktok.com/CODE or vt.tiktok.com/CODE instead, which redirect to the canonical form.
Photo-mode posts use /photo/ instead of /video/ — a useful tell when a 'video' turns out to be a slideshow.
Facebook has the messiest set. You may see facebook.com/watch/?v=ID, facebook.com/username/videos/ID, facebook.com/reel/ID, or a shortened fb.watch/CODE.
On desktop, right-clicking the post's timestamp and copying the link gives the cleanest permalink. Avoid copying from the middle of an infinite feed scroll.
YouTube
Standard watch links are youtube.com/watch?v=ID. The Share button gives youtu.be/ID. Shorts use youtube.com/shorts/ID, and mobile browsers often produce m.youtube.com/watch?v=ID.
If the URL contains &list=, you have copied a playlist position. Strip everything from the ampersand onwards to get the single video.
Pinterest, X and LinkedIn
Pinterest items are pinterest.com/pin/NUMBER, with pin.it/CODE as the short form and many country domains such as pinterest.co.uk or in.pinterest.com.
X posts are x.com/username/status/NUMBER, and legacy twitter.com addresses still resolve identically. LinkedIn uses linkedin.com/posts/username_slug-activity-NUMBER, shortened to lnkd.in/CODE.
Three habits that fix most failures
Always copy from the platform's own Share menu on mobile; the address bar in an in-app browser is often an internal address.
Check the link contains an ID — a code or a long number. If it does not, you have a profile link.
Paste into the field rather than typing, and watch for an ellipsis, which means a chat app truncated the URL before you ever saw it.
Quick answers
Do tracking parameters like ?igsh= break a link?+
No. They are ignored during the check, and you can delete everything after the question mark if you prefer a clean URL.
Why do short links need resolving first?+
Short links are redirects. The real address only becomes visible after the redirect is followed, which is why they take a moment longer.
Can I paste a link from a chat app?+
Usually, but check it was not shortened with an ellipsis. Re-copying it from the original platform is always safest.