Advanced URL Rewriting converts standard phpBB URLs into clean, human-readable links. It includes Open Graph meta tags for social media sharing, universal HTML link rewriting across the board, and automatic 301 redirects to ensure existing links continue working.
- Human-friendly URLs: Replaces parameter-heavy phpBB links with clean URLs (
topic-title-t123,forum-name-f45,post-p678). - Custom forum slugs: Define custom URL slugs for individual forums directly in forum management.
- Member profile URLs: Option to rewrite user profile links into clean URLs (
member/Username). - Word length filtering: Ignore short stop words below a configured character length when generating slugs.
- Universal link rewriting: Automatically rewrites standard URLs in HTML content across core pages and third-party extensions.
- Two rewriting modes: Choose between Advanced mode (includes topic/forum titles) and Simple mode (minimal short URLs).
- Smart transliteration: Automatically removes accents and special characters, converting text to clean ASCII slugs (
açãobecomesacao). - Automatic 301 redirects: Forwards old standard URLs (such as
viewtopic.php?t=123) to matching friendly URLs. - Open Graph support: Injects meta tags on topic pages to display title, description, and preview images when shared on social networks.
- phpBB 3.3.0 or higher
- PHP 7.2.0 or higher
- Apache (with
mod_rewrite) or NGINX web server
- Download the extension files.
- Upload the files to
ext/vinny/urlrewritingin your phpBB root directory. - Go to the Admin Control Panel (ACP) > Customise > Manage extensions.
- Locate Advanced URL Rewriting under Disabled Extensions and click Enable.
- Copy the web server rewrite rules from the extension's ACP module to your server configuration.
After enabling the extension, you must add rewrite rules to your web server so rewritten URLs resolve correctly.
Rules for Apache (.htaccess) and NGINX are available directly in the ACP under ACP > Extension > Advanced URL Rewriting > Server Configuration.
Q: What is the main goal of this extension?
A: Its purpose is to rewrite standard phpBB URLs into a cleaner, human-friendly format.
Q: Will old links break after enabling this extension?
A: No. As long as 301 redirects are enabled and your web server rules are set up correctly, old links will automatically redirect to their friendly counterparts.
Q: Why do rewritten links return a 404 error after enabling the extension?
A: This usually means your web server has not received the rewrite rules yet, or the rules were placed in the wrong position in your configuration file.
Q: Does this extension work on NGINX?
A: Yes. The Server Configuration tab in the ACP provides the required NGINX rules, which must be added manually to your server block.
Q: Can this extension conflict with other URL rewriting extensions?
A: Yes. It is recommended to disable other URL rewriting extensions before enabling this one to prevent conflicts in server rules or link generation.
Caution
If you decide to uninstall or disable this extension, you must implement fallback redirection rules on your web server. Otherwise, URLs indexed by search engines or shared on external sites (such as topic-title-t123) will return 404 errors.
Add the following fallback rules to your server configuration to redirect friendly URLs back to standard phpBB links (viewtopic.php?t=123):
Place these rules in your .htaccess file immediately after RewriteEngine On:
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# FALLBACK: REDIRECT FRIENDLY URLS BACK TO STANDARD PHPBB
# Use only if the "Advanced URL Rewriting" extension is uninstalled
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# 1. Redirect post links (e.g., slug-t12-p34 or post-p34)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)/[^/]+-t([0-9]+)-p([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^.*-t([0-9]+)-p([0-9]+)$ %1/viewtopic.php?t=$1&p=$2 [QSA,R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)/[^/]+-p([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^.*-p([0-9]+)$ %1/viewtopic.php?p=$1 [QSA,R=301,L]
# 2. Redirect topic links (e.g., slug-t123 or topic-t123)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)/[^/]+-t([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^.*-t([0-9]+)$ %1/viewtopic.php?t=$1 [QSA,R=301,L]
# 3. Redirect forum links (e.g., slug-f45 or forum-f45)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)/[^/]+-f([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^.*-f([0-9]+)$ %1/viewforum.php?f=$1 [QSA,R=301,L]
# 4. Redirect member profile links (e.g., member/username)
RewriteRule ^member/(.+)$ memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&un=$1 [B,QSA,R=301,L]Add these rules inside your NGINX server {} block:
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# FALLBACK: REDIRECT FRIENDLY URLS BACK TO STANDARD PHPBB
# Use only if the "Advanced URL Rewriting" extension is uninstalled
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# 1. Redirect post links (e.g., slug-t12-p34 or post-p34)
rewrite ^(.*)/[^/]+-t([0-9]+)-p([0-9]+)$ $1/viewtopic.php?t=$2&p=$3 permanent;
rewrite ^(.*)/[^/]+-p([0-9]+)$ $1/viewtopic.php?p=$2 permanent;
# 2. Redirect topic links (e.g., slug-t123 or topic-t123)
rewrite ^(.*)/[^/]+-t([0-9]+)$ $1/viewtopic.php?t=$2 permanent;
# 3. Redirect forum links (e.g., slug-f45 or forum-f45)
rewrite ^(.*)/[^/]+-f([0-9]+)$ $1/viewforum.php?f=$2 permanent;
# 4. Redirect member profile links (e.g., member/username)
rewrite ^/member/(.+)$ /memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&un=$1 permanent;If you find this extension helpful, consider supporting its development on Ko-fi.
