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List of Internet top-level domains
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This list of Internet top-level domains (TLD) contains top-level domains, which are those domains in the DNS root zone of the Domain Name System of the Internet. A list of the top-level domains by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is maintained at the Root Zone Database.[1] IANA also oversees the approval process for new proposed top-level domains for ICANN. As of April 2021, the IANA Root Zone Database listed 1,502 top-level domains, including active, reserved, retired, and special-use domains.[2] By March 31, 2025, the number of actively delegated top-level domains had decreased to 1,264, reflecting removals, retirements, and changes in the root zone database.[3][4][5] As of March 2021[update], the IANA root database includes 1589 TLDs. That also includes 68 that are not assigned (revoked), 8 that are retired and 11 test domains.[1] Those are not represented in IANA's listing[4] and are not in root.zone file (root.zone file also includes one root domain).[6]
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Types
IANA distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains:[7]
- infrastructure top-level domain (ARPA)
- generic top-level domains (gTLD)
- generic-restricted top-level domains (grTLD)
- sponsored top-level domains (sTLD)
- country code top-level domains (ccTLD)
- test top-level domains (tTLD)
Original top-level domains
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Seven generic top-level domains were created early in the development of the Internet, prior to the creation of ICANN in 1998.
- Name: DNS names
- Entity: intended use
- Administrator: managers
- Notes: general remarks
- IDN: support for internationalized domain names (IDN)
- DNSSEC: presence of DS records for Domain Name System Security Extensions
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Infrastructure top-level domains
Country code top-level domains
As of 20 May 2017, there were 255 country-code top-level domains, purely in the Latin alphabet, using two-character codes. As of June 2022[update], the number was 316, with the addition of internationalized domains.[1]
Proposed internationalized ccTLDs
Internationalized domain names have been proposed for Japan and Libya.
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ICANN-era generic top-level domains
- Name: DNS name
- Target market: intended use
- Restrictions: restrictions, if any, on who can register, and how the domain can be used
- Operator: entity the registry has been delegated to
- IDN: support for internationalized domain names (IDN)
- DNSSEC: presence of DS records for Domain Name System Security Extensions
English
Chinese (.cn)
French (.fr)
German (.de)
Hindi
Italian (.it)
Portuguese (.pt)
Spanish (.es)
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Internationalized generic top-level domains
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All of these TLDs are internationalized domain names (IDN) and support second-level IDNs.
- Notes: general remarks and intended use
- DNSSEC: presence of DS records for Domain Name System Security Extensions
Arabic script
Chinese characterst4
Cyrillic script
Japanese characters
Other script
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Geographic top-level domains
- Name: DNS name
- Entity: Target geographic area
- Notes: general remarks
- IDN: support for internationalized domain names (IDN)
- DNSSEC: presence of DS records for Domain Name System Security Extensions
Africa
Asia
Europe
North America
Oceania
South America
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Internationalized geographic top-level domains
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Brand and corporate top-level domains
- Name: DNS name
- Entity: company and/or brand
- Notes: general remarks
- IDN: support for internationalized domain names (IDN)
- DNSSEC: presence of DS records for Domain Name System Security Extensions
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Internationalized brand top-level domains
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Special-use domains
ICANN/IANA has created some special-use domain names which are meant for technical purposes. ICANN/IANA owns all of the special-use domain names.[170]
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Non-IANA domains
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Besides the TLDs managed (or at least tracked) by IANA or ICANN, other independent groups have created, or had attempted to create, their own TLDs with varying technical specifications, functions, and outcomes.
Microsoft Windows
Within Microsoft Windows there are some special purpose domain names that partially conflict with publicly assigned ones.
Internet Engineering Task Force proposals for local TLDs
The IETF has submitted several requests for comments on TLDs that could be used to represent local devices and services.
Blockchain-registered
Blockchain-based domains are registered and exchanged using a public blockchain like Ethereum. Oftentimes, these domains serve specific functions such as creating human-readable references to smart contract addresses used in DApps or personal wallet addresses.[177] Generally, these non-standard domains are unreachable through the normal DNS resolution process and instead require clients to use some sort of transparent web proxy or gateway to access them
Alternate roots
In the case of alternative DNS roots, organizations or projects make use of the same mechanisms of the DNS but instead take on the role of ICANN in managing and administering an entirely separate root zone, thus having the ability to create new TLDs independently. However, this doesn't make these domains any less isolated from the rest of the internet, as the ability for clients to resolve them theoretically only requires switching to a recursive DNS resolver that recognizes and serves records underneath the alternate root zone.
See also
- Top-level domain
- Country code top-level domain
- Generic top-level domain
- IDN Test TLDs
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, the standard for two-letter country codes, which most ccTLDs are based on
- Proposed top-level domain
- Second-level domain, information about .co.jp, .co.uk, .co.kr, .co.nf, etc.
- Public Suffix List
Explanatory notes
Internet Domain Notes
Citations
External links
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