twitter.com vs x.com Links: Do Old Twitter Links Still Work?

Search an old article, open a years-old email or scroll back through a group chat, and you'll find links that start with twitter.com. Since the platform became X, its main address is x.com. That raises a practical question about twitter.com vs x.com: do the old links still work, are they safe to share, and which one should you use?

The short answer is that old links still work, because twitter.com redirects to x.com. This guide explains how that works, what the different parts of a link mean, when you might see other variations, and how it affects sharing and downloading videos.

Why there are two domains

When Twitter was renamed X in 2023, the app and logo changed first. The web address followed later: in May 2024, x.com became the primary domain. Rather than breaking every old link on the internet, twitter.com was set up to redirect visitors to the matching page on x.com.

That means a link to a post, a profile or a search on twitter.com takes you to the same place on x.com, usually without you noticing anything other than the address changing in your browser.

Keeping the old domain alive matters because twitter.com links are everywhere: in news articles, academic papers, school assignments, emails and countless chat histories. Breaking them would have made a huge amount of the web's history harder to follow. The redirect keeps that history connected to the posts it refers to.

Anatomy of a post link

Post links follow the same structure on both domains:

• Domain: twitter.com or x.com.

• Username: the account that posted, such as /username.

• "status": a fixed word that marks this as a single post.

• Post number: a long string of digits unique to that post.

Because the username and post number don't change, a twitter.com link and an x.com link with the same number point to exactly the same post. You can even swap the domain by hand, and it will still work. In fact, the username part matters less than you might think: the post number alone identifies the post.

What the extra bits mean

Links copied from the app sometimes end with a question mark and extra characters, like "?s=20" or "?t=". These are sharing or tracking details. They don't affect which post opens, and you can safely remove them for a cleaner link. Our guide on how to copy the link to an X post explains this in more detail.

Do old links work everywhere?

In most cases, yes:

• In browsers, twitter.com redirects to x.com.

• In the X app, tapping a twitter.com link usually opens the post in the app.

• In chat apps, link previews may show either domain but lead to the same post.

A link might fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the domain: the post may have been deleted, the account may be protected, or the post may be restricted. Our article on what "this post is unavailable" means on X covers those situations.

Other link variations you might see

mobile.twitter.com

An older address for the mobile website. It also redirects and points to the same posts.

fxtwitter.com, vxtwitter.com and fixupx.com

These are third-party services people use to get better link previews in apps like Discord and Telegram, where an embedded video plays directly in the chat. They keep the same username and post number, so they point to the same post.

Shortened links

Links shortened with t.co, X's own link shortener, appear inside posts and redirect to the destination. They're used for links people include in their posts, not usually for the posts themselves.

Old links in your own content

If you run a website, blog or newsletter, you may have years of embedded posts and links pointing to twitter.com. Do you need to update them all? Usually not.

• Plain links keep working through the redirect, so there's no urgent need to change them.

• Embedded posts generally continue to display, because the embed code loads from X's own servers.

• New content should use x.com, simply because it's the current address and avoids an extra hop.

If you're already editing an old page for another reason, it's a good moment to swap twitter.com for x.com. Check embedded posts occasionally too: an embed shows an error if the original post was deleted or the account went private, and that has nothing to do with the domain. For important clips that you can't afford to lose from an article, consider asking the creator for permission to host a copy, so the page doesn't depend on a post that might disappear.

Updating saved links in bulk

For a large site, a search-and-replace across your content can update twitter.com links to x.com in one step. Test it on a copy first and make sure it only changes the domain, not usernames or other text that happens to contain the word "twitter".

Which link should you share?

• For new shares, use x.com. It's the current official address and avoids an extra redirect.

• For old links, there's no need to update them. They still work.

• For chat apps, some people prefer fxtwitter.com-style links for richer previews, but plain x.com links are the most widely recognized.

Are twitter.com links safe?

Yes, real twitter.com links are safe and redirect to x.com. As with any link, check the domain is spelled correctly. Scammers sometimes use look-alike addresses with extra letters or different endings. Our guide to spotting fake download buttons and unsafe downloaders has tips for spotting dodgy links.

What it means for downloading videos

ClipDrift accepts every common format, so you don't need to convert links before pasting them:

• x.com and twitter.com post links.

• mobile.twitter.com links.

• fxtwitter.com, vxtwitter.com and fixupx.com links.

• /i/web/status/ links.

• The post number on its own.

Paste an x.com link into the X video downloader, or a twitter.com link into the Twitter video downloader; both reach the same post. GIFs save through the X GIF downloader as small looping MP4 files.

Only download content you own or have permission to use. You can start from the ClipDrift homepage with any link format.

FAQ

Do twitter.com links still work?

Yes. They redirect automatically to the same page on x.com.

Is there any difference between a twitter.com and an x.com post link?

No. If the username and post number match, they open the same post.

When did Twitter switch to x.com?

x.com became the main web address in May 2024, after the rebrand to X in 2023.

Why does my link have "?s=20" at the end?

It's a sharing or tracking detail added by the app. It doesn't change the post, and you can remove it.

What are fxtwitter.com and vxtwitter.com links?

Third-party services that give better previews in chat apps. They point to the same posts as x.com links.

Can I download a video from an old twitter.com link?

Yes. ClipDrift accepts twitter.com, x.com and other common link formats.