A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
In 2018, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) began implementing internationalized country code top-level domains, consisting of language-native characters when displayed in an end-user application. Creation and delegation of ccTLDs is described in RFC 1591, corresponding to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes. While gTLDs have to obey international regulations, ccTLDs are subjected to requirements that are determined by each country's domain name regulation corporation. With over 150 million domain name registrations as of 2022, ccTLDs make up about 40% of the total domain name industry.[1]
Country code extension applications began in 1985. The registered country code extensions in that year included .us (United States), .uk (United Kingdom) and .il (Israel). The registered country code extensions in 1986 included .au (Australia), .de (Germany), .fi (Finland), .fr (France), .is (Iceland), .jp (Japan), .kr (South Korea), .nl (Netherlands) and .se (Sweden). The registered country code extensions in 1987 included .nz (New Zealand), .ch (Switzerland) and .ca (Canada).[2] The registered country code extensions in 1988 included .ie (Ireland) .it (Italy), .es (Spain) and .pt (Portugal). The registered country code extensions in 1989 included .in (India) and .yu (Yugoslavia). In the 1990s, .cn (People's Republic of China) and .ru (Russian Federation) were first registered.
There are 308 delegated ccTLDs. The .cn, .tk, .de, .uk, .nl and .ru ccTLDs contain the highest number of domains. The top ten ccTLDs account for more than five-eighths of registered ccTLD domains. There were about 153 million ccTLD domains registered at the end of March 2022.[1]
Delegation and management
[edit]IANA is responsible for determining an appropriate trustee for each ccTLD. Administration and control are then delegated to that trustee, which is responsible for the policies and operation of the domain. The current delegation can be determined from IANA's list of ccTLDs.[3] Individual ccTLDs may have varying requirements and fees for registering subdomains. There may be a local-presence requirement (for instance, citizenship or other connection to the ccTLD), as, for example, the American (us), Japanese (jp), Canadian (ca), French (fr) and German (de) domains, or registration may be open.
History
[edit]The first registered ccTLD was .us, which was registered in 1985. Later ccTLDs registered in that year included .uk and .il. Then, .au, .de, .fi, .fr, .is, .jp, .kr, .nl and .se were also registered in 1986.[3] In 1987, .nz, .ch, .my and .ca were registered. Later on, in 1988, .ie, .it, .es and .pt were also registered.
Lists
[edit]As of 20 May 2017, there were 255 country-code top-level domains, purely in the Latin alphabet, using two-character codes. The number was 316 as of June 2020[update], with the addition of internationalized domains.[3]
Latin Character ccTLDs
[edit]Table columns – legend Name DNS name of the two-letter country-code top-level domain. They follow ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, with some exceptions such as ".ac" for Ascension Island, ".eu" for the European Union, or ".uk" for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland instead of ".gb". ISO codes bv
,bl
,mf
,sj
,gb
, andum
are not used for country code top-level domains.Entity Country, dependency, or region Explanation Explanation of the code when it is not self-evident from the English name of the country. These are usually domains that arise from native name of the country (e.g. .de for Deutschland, German language name for Germany). Notes General remarks Registry Domain name registry operator, sometimes called a network information center (NIC) IDN Support for internationalized domain names (IDN) DNSSEC Presence of DS records for Domain Name System Security Extensions SLD Second level domain; that is, whether names may be registered directly under the TLD IPv6 Registry fully supports IPv6 access
Name[3] | Entity | Explanation (language of origin, if different from English) | Notes | Registry[3][needs update?] | IDN | DNSSEC | SLD | IPv6 | Introduction Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.ac | ![]() |
Ascension Island | Commonly used for academic websites, such as universities. However, .ac is not to be confused with the official academic domains used by several countries such as the United Kingdom (.ac.uk), India (.ac.in) or Indonesia (.ac.id). Also used in the accounting, consulting, and air-conditioning industries.
|
Ascension Island Network Information Centre (run by Internet Computer Bureau) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 19 December 1997 |
.ad | ![]() |
Andorra | Local trademark, trade name or citizenship required.[4] | Nic.ad | No | Yes | Yes | 9 January 1996 | |
.ae | ![]() |
United Arab Emirates | .aeDA | No | No | Yes | 1 December 1992 | ||
.af | ![]() |
Afghanistan | No | Yes | Yes | 16 October 1997 | |||
.ag | ![]() |
Antigua and Barbuda | Also unofficially used by German businesses (where AG is an abbreviation of Aktiengesellschaft). | No | Yes | Yes | 3 September 1991 | ||
.ai | ![]() |
Anguilla | Also unofficially used by tech companies specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence). | No | No | Yes | 16 February 1995 | ||
.al | ![]() |
Albania | Citizenship no longer required. | No | No | Yes | 21 April 1992 | ||
.am | ![]() |
Armenia | Also unofficially used by AM radio stations, podcasts or related business. | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 26 August 1994 | |
.ao | ![]() |
Angola | No | No | ? | 15 November 1995 | |||
.aq | ![]() |
Antarctique (French) | Defined by the Antarctic Treaty as everything south of latitude 60°S. AQ domain names are available to government organizations who are signatories to the Antarctic Treaty and to other registrants who have a physical presence in Antarctica. Domain names can be registered and renewed free of charge. | ? | No | Yes | ? | 26 February 1992 | |
.ar | ![]() |
Argentina | nic.ar | Spanish[A] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 23 September 1987 | |
.as | ![]() |
American Samoa | In some countries, like Norway and Denmark, "AS" or "A/S" is used as an abbreviation for stock-based or limited companies. Such companies will often make use of the domain. Also unofficially used by the Principality of Asturias, Spain. | Yes | No | Yes | 12 June 1997 | ||
.at | ![]() |
Austria | Nic.at | Yes[B] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 20 January 1988 | |
.au | ![]() |
Australia | Restrictions apply. In general, registrants must have an "Australian presence", and can be registered anywhere between 1 and 5 years.[7] Includes Ashmore and Cartier Islands and Coral Sea Islands. Direct second-level domain registration (marketed as ".au Direct") has been made available commencing 24 March 2022.[8] | auDA | No | Yes | Yes (*From 24 Mar 2022)[8] | Yes | 5 March 1986 |
.aw | ![]() |
Aruba, West Indies | Restricted to registered Aruban companies, organisations and citizens. | No | Yes | Yes | 20 February 1996 | ||
.ax | ![]() |
.al and .ad already allocated |
No | Yes | Yes | 21 June 2006 | |||
.az | ![]() |
Azerbaijan | Only for Residents. Has no WHOIS-Server. | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 25 August 1993 | |
.ba | ![]() |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | University of Sarajevo - University tele-informatic Centre https://www.utic.unsa.ba https://www.nic.ba | No | No | Yes | 14 August 1996 | ||
.bb | ![]() |
Barbados | No | No | Yes | 3 September 1991 | |||
.bd | ![]() |
Bangladesh | For individuals, registrant must have a valid NID. For companies, registrant must have company or trademark registered in Bangladesh. | Yes | No | Yes | 20 May 1999 | ||
.be | ![]() |
Belgium | Used for YouTube-related domains. Also unofficially used in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. | DNS Belgium | Latin[9] | Yes | Yes | Yes[10] | 5 August 1988 (added to root zone) |
.bf | ![]() |
Burkina Faso | No | No | Yes | 29 March 1993 | |||
.bg | ![]() |
Bulgaria | See also .бг (.bg in Cyrillic) for IDN ccTLD.
|
Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 January 1995 | ||
.bh | ![]() |
Bahrain | No | Yes | Yes | 1 February 1994 | |||
.bi | ![]() |
Burundi | No | No | Yes | 21 October 1996 | |||
.bj | ![]() |
.be , .bn , and .bi already allocated |
No | No | Yes | 18 January 1996 | |||
.bm | ![]() |
Bermuda | Local corporate registration required. | No | Yes | Yes | March 1993 | ||
.bn | ![]() |
Brunei | No | No | No | 3 June 1994 | |||
.bo | ![]() |
Bolivia | No | No | Yes | 26 February 1991 | |||
.bq | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
.be and .bs already allocated |
20 February 2010 | ||||||
.br | ![]() |
Brasil (Portuguese) | Restricted. Registration is done under several categories (i.e.: .edu.br for higher education institutions, .gov.br for government agencies, etc.).[11]
|
Portuguese[12] | Yes | No[C] | 18 April 1989 | ||
.bs | ![]() |
Bahamas | No | No | Yes | 3 September 1991 | |||
.bt | ![]() |
Bhutan | Must have local presence in Bhutan, and valid trade license.[13] | No | Yes | No | 16 July 1997 | ||
.bw | ![]() |
Botswana | May also be used for the Province of Walloon Brabant, Wallonia, Belgium. | No | No[14] | Yes | 19 March 1993 | ||
.by | ![]() |
Byelorussia (Russian) | Also unofficially used to denote Bayern (Bavaria), Germany. | No | Yes | Yes | 10 May 1994 | ||
.bz | ![]() |
Belize | Also unofficially used in the province of Bozen (or South Tyrol, see .st). | No | Yes | Yes | 3 September 1991 | ||
.ca | ![]() |
Canada | Subject to Canadian Presence Requirements. Also unofficially used by some websites in the U.S. state of California. | CIRA | French[15] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 14 May 1987 |
.cc | ![]() |
Cocos Islands | Australian territory: not to be confused with Cocos Island in Guam. Currently marketed as global domain, registration allowed worldwide, local presence not required; the domain is currently operated by eNIC, a VeriSign company. | Yes | Yes | Yes | 13 October 1997 | ||
.cd | ![]() |
Congo, Democratic Republic | Also unofficially used for Compact disc-related domains. | No | No | Yes | 20 August 1997 | ||
.cf | ![]() |
Central African Republic | Was previously used as a free domain service to the public | SOCATEL | Yes | No | Yes | 24 April 1996 | |
.cg | ![]() |
Congo | No | No | Yes | 14 January 1997 | |||
.ch | ![]() |
Confoederatio Helvetica (Latin) | SWITCH | Yes[D] | Yes | Yes | 20 May 1987 | ||
.ci | ![]() |
Côte d'Ivoire (French) | No | No | Yes | 14 February 1995 | |||
.ck | ![]() |
Cook Islands | No | No | Yes | 8 August 1995 | |||
.cl | ![]() |
Chile | NIC Chile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 15 December 1987 | |
.cm | ![]() |
Cameroon | A local entity or company in Cameroon is required to register a domain name. | No | No | Yes | 29 April 1995 | ||
.cn | ![]() |
China | A local company in China is required to register a domain name, or for personal registrations a valid Resident Identity Card. See ICP license for more information regarding registrations. Hong Kong and Macau also maintain TLDs.
Also unofficially used for Cartoon Network-related domains. |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 28 November 1990 | |
.co | ![]() |
Colombia | Marketed as a global domain. Anyone can register. | No | Yes | Yes | 24 December 1991 | ||
.cr | ![]() |
Costa Rica | No | Yes | Yes | 10 September 1990 | |||
.cu | ![]() |
Cuba | No | No | Yes | 3 June 1992 | |||
.cv | ![]() |
Cape Verde | Also unofficially used for curriculum vitae-related domains. | No | No | Yes | 21 October 1996 | ||
.cw | ![]() |
Curaçao, West Indies | No | ? | 20 December 2010 | ||||
.cx | ![]() |
Christmas, Xmas | Made infamous from Goatse.cx. | No | Yes | Yes | 24 April 1997 | ||
.cy | ![]() |
Cyprus | No | Yes[E] | Yes | 26 July 1994 | |||
.cz | ![]() |
Czechia | No[F] | Yes | Yes | 13 January 1993 | |||
.de | ![]() |
Deutschland (German) | German postal address for administrative contact (admin-c) required. Proxy registrations are allowed. | DENIC | Yes[G] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 5 November 1986 |
.dj | ![]() |
Djibouti | Also unofficially used by disc jockeys. | No | No | Yes | 22 May 1996 | ||
.dk | ![]() |
Danmark (Danish) | Punktum dk | Yes[H] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 14 July 1987 | |
.dm | ![]() |
Dominica | No | No | Yes | 3 September 1991 | |||
.do | ![]() |
Dominican | No | No | Yes | 25 August 1991 | |||
.dz | ![]() |
El Djazair / Dzayer (Arabic) | No | Yes | Yes | 3 January 1994 | |||
.ec | ![]() |
Ecuador | In Japan, "EC" is used as an acronym for "electronic commerce". Because of that, it's used unofficially by companies dedicated to provide online stores like BASE, a company that has two domains related to e-commerce: "base.in" and "official.ec". | Nic.ec | No | No | Yes | 1 February 1991 | |
.ee | ![]() |
Eesti (Estonian) | Yes[I] | Yes | Yes | 3 June 1992 | |||
.eg | ![]() |
Egypt | No | No | Yes | 30 November 1990 | |||
.eh | ![]() |
Español Sahara (Spanish) | Unassigned. | No | No | No | |||
.er | ![]() |
Eritrea | No | Yes | 24 September 1996 | ||||
.es | ![]() |
España (Spanish) | Red.es | Yes[22] | Yes | Yes | 14 April 1988 | ||
.et | ![]() |
Ethiopia | No | No | No | 15 October 1995 | |||
.eu | ![]() |
European Union | Restricted to legal and natural persons in European Union member states. Previously unofficially used for sites in the Basque language, but now .eus is in official use. | EURid | Yes[J] | Yes | Yes | Yes[24] | 28 April 2005 |
.fi | ![]() |
Finland | Registration allowed worldwide, local presence not required. | Traficom | Yes[K] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 17 December 1986 |
.fj | ![]() |
Fiji | No | No | Yes | 3 June 1992 | |||
.fk | ![]() |
Falkland | No | No | No | 26 March 1997 | |||
.fm | ![]() |
Federated States of Micronesia | Also unofficially used by FM radio stations, podcasts or related business. | Yes | Yes | Yes | 19 April 1995 | ||
.fo | ![]() |
Føroyar (Faroese) | FO Council | No | Yes | Yes | 14 May 1993 | ||
.fr | ![]() |
France | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.[L] | AFNIC | Yes[27] | Yes | Yes | 2 September 1986 | |
.ga | ![]() |
Gabon | Must have presence in Gabon or justify any other direct or indirect link with Gabon. Geographical names and names associated with public/government entities prohibited.
Was previously used as a free domain service to the public |
ANINF | Yes | No | Yes | 12 December 1994 | |
.gd | ![]() |
Grenada | No | Yes | Yes | 3 June 1992 | |||
.ge | ![]() |
Georgia | Available for registration for residents of Georgia (unlimited) or for foreign companies via representation of any local legal person (one domain name per registrant).[28] | No | No | Yes | 2 December 1992 | ||
.gf | ![]() |
Guyane Française (French) | No | No | 25 July 1996 | ||||
.gg | ![]() |
.gu , .gs , and .gy already allocated |
Also unofficially used by video game-related websites (see GG (gaming)). | Island Networks Ltd. | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 August 1996 | |
.gh | ![]() |
Ghana | No | No | No | 19 January 1995 | |||
.gi | ![]() |
Gibraltar | No | Yes | Yes | 5 December 1995 | |||
.gl | ![]() |
Greenland | Previously also unofficially used in Galicia, Spain, but .gal has now been approved for such use and was implemented in mid-2014. | No | Yes | Yes | 8 April 1994 | ||
.gm | ![]() |
Gambia | Domain name should match the domain owner's name or trademarks. Common nouns are blocked. | No | No | Yes | 28 March 1997 | ||
.gn | ![]() |
Guinea | A local contact is required. | No | Yes | No | 9 August 1994 | ||
.gp | ![]() |
Guadeloupe | Still used for Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin. | No | No | Yes | 21 October 1996 | ||
.gq | ![]() |
Guinée équatoriale (French) | Was previously used as a free domain service to the public | GETESA | Yes | No | 10 July 1997 | ||
.gr | ![]() |
Greece | Yes[M] | Yes | Yes | 19 February 1989 | |||
.gs | ![]() |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | No | Yes | Yes | 31 July 1997 | |||
.gt | ![]() |
Guatemala | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 14 August 1992 | ||
.gu | ![]() |
Guam | No | No | No | 15 April 1994 | |||
.gw | ![]() |
Gine-Bisaawo (Fula) | No | Yes | Yes | 4 February 1997 | |||
.gy | ![]() |
Guyana | No | Yes | Yes | 13 September 1994 | |||
.hk | ![]() |
Hong Kong | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 January 1990 | |||
.hm | ![]() |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | Unused for its intended purposes (islands are uninhabited and government sites instead use .aq); registry open to the public. | No | No | Yes | 24 July 1997 | ||
.hn | ![]() |
Honduras | No | Yes | Yes | 16 April 1993 | |||
.hr | ![]() |
Hrvatska (Serbo-Croatian) | No | Yes | Yes | 27 February 1993 (in root zone) March 1993[30] | |||
.ht | ![]() |
Haiti | Yes | No | Yes | 6 March 1997 | |||
.hu | ![]() |
Hungary | Limited to citizens of the European Union or entities established by law within the territory of the EU. | Yes[31] | Yes | Yes | 7 November 1990 | ||
.id | ![]() |
Indonesia | Restricted to Indonesian companies (co.id ), organisations (or.id ), academic (ac.id & sch.id ) and citizens (biz.id , my.id & web.id ). Second-level domains are becoming available now and opened to general registration on 17 August 2014.[32]
|
PANDI | Yes | Yes | Yes | 27 February 1993 | |
.ie | ![]() |
Ireland | In 2002, registration was expanded to include persons or businesses with a "real and substantive" connection with the island of Ireland (including Northern Ireland).[33][34] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 27 January 1988[35] | |
.il | ![]() |
Israel | Yes | Yes | Yes | 24 October 1985 | |||
.im | ![]() |
Isle of Man | No | No | Yes | 11 September 1996 | |||
.in | ![]() |
India | Under INRegistry since April 2005 (except for gov.in , nic.in , mil.in , ac.in , edu.in , and res.in ).
|
NIXI[36] | Yes[37] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8 May 1989 |
.io | ![]() |
Indian Ocean | Used unofficially by technology companies, startups, and web applications as IO can be an acronym for "input/output" that is useful for domain hacks. | NIC.IO (run by Internet Computer Bureau) | Yes | Yes | Yes | 16 September 1997 | |
.iq | ![]() |
Iraq | No | Partial[N] | Yes | 9 May 1997 (in root zone) | |||
.ir | ![]() |
Iran | IRNIC | Yes | No | Yes | 6 April 1994 | ||
.is | ![]() |
Ísland (Icelandic) | Also unofficially used and marketed as a domain hack (for example it.is, that.is, etc.). | ISNIC | Yes | Yes | Yes | 18 November 1987 | |
.it | ![]() |
Italy | Restricted to companies and individuals in the European Union. | Yes[38] | Yes[39] | Yes | Yes | 23 December 1987 (in root zone) 1 January 1988 (fully active) | |
.je | ![]() |
Jersey | Island Networks Ltd. | Yes | No | Yes | 8 August 1996 | ||
.jm | ![]() |
Jamaica | No | No | No | 24 September 1991 | |||
.jo | ![]() |
Jordan | No | Yes | 23 November 1994 (in root zone) | ||||
.jp | ![]() |
Japan | Restricted to individuals or companies with a physical address in Japan. | Japan Registry Services | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[40] | 5 August 1986 |
.ke | ![]() |
Kenya | No | No[41] | No | 29 April 1993 | |||
.kg | ![]() |
Kyrgyzstan | No | Yes | Yes | 12 July 1995 | |||
.kh | ![]() |
Khmer | No | No | No | 20 February 1996 | |||
.ki | ![]() |
Kiribati | No | Yes | Yes | 19 April 1995 | |||
.km | ![]() |
Komori (Comorian) | No | No | Yes | 8 June 1998 | |||
.kn | ![]() |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | No | No | Yes | 3 September 1991 | |||
.kp | ![]() |
Korea, Democratic People's Republic | Restricted to companies, organizations, or government entities based in North Korea. Despite this, few domains are actually registered because of internet censorship in North Korea. | No | No | No | No | 24 September 2007 | |
.kr | ![]() |
Korea, Republic | Yes | Yes | Yes | 29 September 1986 | |||
.kw | ![]() |
Kuwait | Yes | No | 26 October 1992 | ||||
.ky | ![]() |
.ci and .cy already allocated |
No | Yes | Yes | 3 May 1995 | |||
.kz | ![]() |
Kazakhstan | "A prerequisite for server hardware is its physical location on the territory of the Republic of
Kazakhstan."[42] |
KAZNIC | Yes | No | Yes | 19 September 1994 | |
.la | ![]() |
Laos | Currently being marketed as the unofficial domain for Los Angeles.[43] | Yes | Yes | 14 May 1996 | |||
.lb | ![]() |
Lebanon | Restricted to registration with companies in Lebanon. | Yes | No | 25 August 1993 | |||
.lc | ![]() |
Saint Lucia | Yes | Yes | 3 September 1991 | ||||
.li | ![]() |
Liechtenstein | Also unofficially used by entities on Long Island, New York or people with the last name Li. In Russian, li can be used to create domain names that mean a verb with a past tense plural ending li . | SWITCH | Yes | Yes | Yes | 26 February 1993 | |
.lk | ![]() |
Sri Lanka | Yes | Yes | Yes | 15 June 1990 | |||
.lr | ![]() |
Liberia | Partial[N] | No | 9 April 1997 | ||||
.ls | ![]() |
Lesotho | No | No | 13 January 1993 | ||||
.lt | ![]() |
Lithuania | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 June 1992 | |||
.lu | ![]() |
Luxembourg | Also unofficially used in Lucerne, Switzerland. | Yes | Yes | Yes | 27 January 1995 | ||
.lv | ![]() |
Latvia | IMCS UL | Yes | Yes | Yes | 29 April 1993 | ||
.ly | ![]() |
Libya | Used unofficially as a domain hack for words ending in -ly. | Yes | Yes | 23 April 1997 | |||
.ma | ![]() |
Maroc (French) | Partial[N] | Yes | 26 November 1993 | ||||
.mc | ![]() |
Monaco | Only for companies with a trademark registered in Monaco. | Yes | Yes | 20 January 1995 | |||
.md | ![]() |
Moldova | Restricted to individuals or companies with a physical address in Moldova. | Yes | Yes | 24 March 1994 | |||
.me | ![]() |
Montenegro | Also unofficially used and marketed as a domain hack (for example love.me, meet.me, etc.). | Yes | Yes | 24 September 2007 | |||
.mg | ![]() |
Madagascar | Restricted to registration with companies in Madagascar. | NIC-MG | No | Yes | 25 July 1995 | ||
.mh | ![]() |
Marshall | Inactive. | No | 16 August 1996 | ||||
.mk | ![]() |
Makedonija (Serbo-Croatian) | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union. | No | Yes | 23 September 1993 | |||
.ml | ![]() |
Mali | Was previously used as a free domain service to the public | AGETIC | Yes | No | Yes | 29 September 1993 | |
.mm | ![]() |
Myanmar | No | No | 4 February 1997 | ||||
.mn | ![]() |
Mongolia | The second-level domains .gov.mn , .org.mn , and .edu.mn are reserved for special use. See .mn for more information.
|
Yes | Yes | 2 March 1995 | |||
.mo | ![]() |
Macao | Registrants must have a registered business in Macau, with the same name as the domain they wish to register. | No | Yes | 17 September 1992 | |||
.mp | ![]() |
Marianas Pacific | No | Yes | 22 October 1996 | ||||
.mq | ![]() |
Martinique (French) | No | No | 28 March 1997 | ||||
.mr | ![]() |
Mauritania | Yes | Yes | 24 April 1996 | ||||
.ms | ![]() |
Montserrat | Also unofficially used for Microsoft-related domains. | No | Yes | 6 March 1997 | |||
.mt | ![]() |
Malta | No | No | 2 December 1992 | ||||
.mu | ![]() |
Mauritius | No | Yes | 6 October 1995 | ||||
.mv | ![]() |
Maldives | No | Yes | 25 September 1996 | ||||
.mw | ![]() |
Malawi | No | Yes | 3 January 1997 | ||||
.mx | ![]() |
Mexico | Yes | Yes | 1 February 1989 | ||||
.my | ![]() |
Malaysia | Restricted to registration by individuals or companies in Malaysia. | MYNIC | Yes[44] | Yes | Yes | 8 June 1987 | |
.mz | ![]() |
Mozambique | No | No | 4 September 1992 | ||||
.na | ![]() |
Namibia | Yes | Yes | 8 May 1991 | ||||
.nc | ![]() |
New Caledonia | Restricted to companies that have a New Caledonian Business Registration Certificate or individuals living in New Caledonia for at least 6 months. | Yes | Yes | 13 October 1993 | |||
.ne | ![]() |
Niger | No | Yes | 24 April 1996 | ||||
.nf | ![]() |
Norfolk | Yes | Yes | 18 March 1996 | ||||
.ng | ![]() |
Nigeria | No | Yes | 15 March 1995 | ||||
.ni | ![]() |
Nicaragua | No | No | 13 October 1989 | ||||
.nl | ![]() |
Netherlands | First active country-code domain outside the US.[45] | Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 25 April 1986 |
.no | ![]() |
Norway | Businesses and professionals must be registered as an approved type of organization in the Brønnøysund Register Centre. Individual applicants must be of age (18 years) and be registered in Folkeregisteret. All applicants must have a Norwegian postal address. | Norid | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 17 March 1987 |
.np | ![]() |
Nepal | All .np domains were free to register for individuals and registered businesses but now it needs some amount to register. Foreign businesses must provide proof of local presence in Nepal.
|
No | No | 25 January 1995 | |||
.nr | ![]() |
Nauru | Was previously used as a free domain service to the public as co.nr .[46]
|
No | Yes | 30 March 1998 | |||
.nu | ![]() |
Niue | Commonly used by Danish, Dutch, and Swedish websites, as in their respective languages "nu" means "now". | The Swedish Internet Foundation | Yes[47] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 20 June 1997 |
.nz | ![]() |
New Zealand | Māori[48] | Yes | Yes[49] | Yes | 19 January 1987 | ||
.om | ![]() |
Oman | Registrant must have company or trademark registered in Oman as well as a local administrative contact. | No | No | 11 April 1996 | |||
.pa | ![]() |
Panama | Some use in Pennsylvania. | No | No | 25 May 1994 | |||
.pe | ![]() |
Peru | Also unofficially used for Private Equity-related businesses. | Yes | Yes | Yes | 25 November 1991 | ||
.pf | ![]() |
Polynésie française (French) | With Clipperton Island. | No | Yes | 19 March 1996 | |||
.pg | ![]() |
Papua New Guinea | No | No | 26 September 1991 | ||||
.ph | ![]() |
Philippines | Yes | Yes | 14 September 1990 | ||||
.pk | ![]() |
Pakistan | Operated by PKNIC since 1992. | No | Yes | 3 June 1992 | |||
.pl | ![]() |
Poland | Yes[50] | Yes | Yes | 30 July 1990 | |||
.pm | ![]() |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.[L] | AFNIC | Yes | Yes | 20 August 1997 | ||
.pn | ![]() |
Pitcairn | As a part of a marketing campaign, Lionsgate used the TLD for some (now defunct) sites related to The Hunger Games franchise, presenting it as the "official" country code of the fictional nation of Panem; notable sites included thecapitol.pn and revolution.pn. | No | Yes | 10 July 1997 | |||
.pr | ![]() |
Puerto Rico | Yes | Yes | 27 August 1989 | ||||
.ps | ![]() |
Palestine | No | Yes | 22 March 2000 | ||||
.pt | ![]() |
Portugal | Portuguese | Yes | Yes | Yes[52] | 30 June 1988 | ||
.pw | ![]() |
Pelew (archaic English spelling) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[53] | 12 June 1997 | ||
.py | ![]() |
Paraguay | No | No | 9 September 1991 | ||||
.qa | ![]() |
Qatar | No | No | 12 June 1996 | ||||
.re | ![]() |
Réunion | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.[L] | AFNIC | Yes[27] | Yes | Yes | 7 April 1997 | |
.ro | ![]() |
Romania | Yes[54] | Yes[54] | Yes | Yes[54] | 26 February 1993 | ||
.rs | ![]() |
Republika Srbija (Serbo-Croatian) | See also .срб (.srb in Cyrillic). Also unofficially used for Rust (programming language)-related domains. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 24 September 2007 (in root zone) 10 March 2008 (registrations) | |
.ru | ![]() |
Russia | See also .su, still in use, and .рф, for IDN. | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 April 1994 | |
.rw | ![]() |
Rwanda | RICTA | No | Yes | 21 October 1996 | |||
.sa | ![]() |
Saudi Arabia | Registrant must have a registered trademark in Saudi Arabia matching the domain name to register or provide company incorporation documents of a company in Saudi Arabia or for personal registrations a copy of valid ID. A letter on the official letterhead of your organization addressed to SaudiNIC requesting the domain name registration is also required. Local administrative contact required. 2LD registrations rolled out in 2011.[55] | Arabic[9] | Yes[56] | Yes | Yes[57] | 17 May 1994 | |
.sb | ![]() |
Solomon Islands, British | Yes | No | 19 April 1994 | ||||
.sc | ![]() |
Seychelles | Also unofficially used for Snapchat-related domains. | Yes | Yes | 9 May 1997 | |||
.sd | ![]() |
Sudan | No | Yes | 6 March 1997 | ||||
.se | ![]() |
Sverige (Swedish) | The Swedish Internet Foundation | Yes[O] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 September 1986 | |
.sg | ![]() |
Singapore | Also unofficially used in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. | Yes | Yes | 19 October 1988 | |||
.sh | ![]() ![]() |
Saint Helena |
Also unofficially used by Canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland |
NIC.SH (run by Internet Computer Bureau) | Yes[59] | Yes | Yes | 23 September 1997 | |
.si | ![]() |
Slovenia | Yes[P] | Yes | Yes | 1 April 1992 | |||
.sk | ![]() |
Slovensko (Slovak) | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.[L] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 29 March 1993 | ||
.sl | ![]() |
Sierra Leone | No | Yes | 9 May 1997 | ||||
.sm | ![]() |
San Marino | Domain name must be same as company name or trademark. | No | Yes | 16 August 1995 | |||
.sn | ![]() |
Senegal | Registration allowed for companies only. Individuals are not allowed to register. | Yes | Yes | 19 March 1993 | |||
.so | ![]() |
Somalia | Relaunched on 1 November 2010. | SONIC | No | No | Yes | 28 August 1997 | |
.sr | ![]() |
Suriname | No | Yes | 3 September 1991 | ||||
.ss | ![]() |
South Sudan | SSNIC[61] | Yes | 10 August 2011 (allocated) 2 February 2019 (root zone) | ||||
.st | ![]() |
São Tomé | Also unofficially used in South Tyrol (or province of Bozen, see .bz) and Styria. | Yes | No | Yes | 7 November 1997 | ||
.su | ![]() |
Soviet Union | Still in use. Also unofficially used by Student Unions. | Yes[Q] | Yes | Yes | Yes[63] | 19 September 1990 | |
.sv | ![]() |
Salvador | No | No | 4 November 1994 | ||||
.sx | ![]() |
.sm , .ma , and .mt already allocated; airport code is SXM. |
CIRA | Yes | No | 20 December 2010 | |||
.sy | ![]() |
Syria | No | Yes | 20 February 1996 | ||||
.sz | ![]() |
Swaziland | Registration is restricted to Eswatini organizations with Eswatini Trading Licenses. | No | No | 19 July 1993 | |||
.tc | ![]() |
Turks and Caicos | Also marketed in Turkey. The official abbreviation of 'Türkiye Cumhuriyeti' (Republic of Turkey) is TC. | No | Yes | 27 January 1997 | |||
.td | ![]() |
Tchad (French) | Available for registration to entities connected with Chad only. | No | Yes | 3 November 1997 | |||
.tf | ![]() |
Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (French) | Seldom used. Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. The domain also sees frequent use for community-run sites related to the video game Team Fortress 2.[L] | AFNIC | Yes[27] | Yes | Yes | 26 August 1997 | |
.tg | ![]() |
Togo | No | Yes | 5 September 1996 | ||||
.th | ![]() |
Thai | THNIC | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 September 1988 | ||
.tj | ![]() |
Tajik | No | Yes | 11 December 1997 | ||||
.tk | ![]() |
Tokelau | Was previously used as a free domain service to the public | Dot TK | Yes | No | Yes | 7 November 1997 | |
.tl | ![]() |
Timor-Leste | Previous code .tp has been deactivated since 2015. | Yes | Yes | 23 March 2005 | |||
.tm | ![]() |
Turkmen | Yes[64] | Yes | Yes | 30 May 1997 | |||
.tn | ![]() |
Tunisia | Official ccTLDs (country code top-level domains) of Tunisia. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 17 May 1991 | |
.to | ![]() |
Tonga | Often used unofficially for Torrent, Turin (Torino in Italian), Toronto, Tokyo, or Tocantins, and also as a domain hack in Slavic languages (to meaning it). | Yes | No | Yes | 18 December 1995 | ||
.tr | ![]() |
Turkey | .ct.tr and .nc.tr used by Northern Cyprus. | Yes[R] | No | Yes | Yes[S] | 17 September 1990 | |
.tt | ![]() |
Trinidad and Tobago | Yes | Yes | 3 September 1991 | ||||
.tv | ![]() |
Tuvalu | Used as an abbreviation of television, the domain is currently operated by dotTV, a VeriSign company; the Tuvalu government owns twenty percent of the company. | Yes | Yes | 18 March 1996 | |||
.tw | ![]() |
Taiwan | Registration allowed worldwide, local presence not required. In line with ISO 3166-1, IANA's official position is that "TW" is "designated for use to represent Taiwan, Province of China".[67] | Yes[T] | Yes | Yes | 31 July 1989 | ||
.tz | ![]() |
Tanzania | TLD registrations allowed as of July 2022, no local presence in Tanzania required. | TCRA | Yes | No | 14 July 1995 | ||
.ua | ![]() |
Ukraina (Ukrainian) | Registrations in TLD are restricted to trademark holders only; SLD registrations are open | Hostmaster Ltd. | Yes[U] | Yes[V] | Yes | Yes | 1 December 1992 |
.ug | ![]() |
Uganda | Uganda Online Ltd. | Yes | Yes | 8 March 1995 | |||
.uk | ![]() |
United Kingdom | The ISO 3166-1 code for the United Kingdom is GB (for Great Britain). UK is a specially reserved ISO 3166-1 code. However, the creation of the .uk TLD predates the ISO 3166-1 list of ccTLD and is the primary TLD for the United Kingdom.[69] | Nominet UK | Yes | Yes | Yes | 24 July 1985 | |
.us | ![]() |
United States | Registrants must be United States citizens, residents, or organizations, or a foreign entity with a presence in the United States. Formerly commonly used by U.S. State and local governments; see also .gov TLD. | Go Daddy | Yes | Yes | 15 February 1985 | ||
.uy | ![]() |
Uruguay | 2LD rollout began on 10 July 2012.[70] | Yes | Yes | 10 September 1990 | |||
.uz | ![]() |
Uzbekistan | Uzinfocom | Yes | Yes | 29 April 1995 | |||
.va | ![]() |
Vatican | Limited to the official sites of the Holy See (including those of the Vatican City State). | No | No | 11 September 1995 (root zone) | |||
.vc | ![]() |
Vincent | Partial[N] | Yes | 3 September 1991 | ||||
.ve | ![]() |
Venezuela | Registration is at the third level. | Yes | No | 7 March 1991 | |||
.vg | ![]() |
Virgin Islands | No | Yes | 20 February 1997 | ||||
.vi | ![]() |
Virgin Islands | No | Yes | 31 August 1995 | ||||
.vn | ![]() |
Viet Nam (Vietnamese) | Yes[71] | Yes | Yes | 14 April 1994 | |||
.vu | ![]() |
Vanuatu | Yes | Yes | 10 April 1995 | ||||
.wf | ![]() |
Wallis and Futuna | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.[L] | AFNIC | Yes[27] | Yes | Yes | 14 November 1997 | |
.ws | ![]() |
Western Samoa | Marketed for use in general websites. | Yes | Yes[72] | Yes | 14 July 1995 | ||
.ye | ![]() |
Yemen | No | No | 19 August 1996 | ||||
.yt | ![]() |
Mayotte | Restricted to individuals and companies in European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.[L] Also unofficially used for YouTube-related domains. | AFNIC | Yes[27] | Yes | Yes | 17 November 1997 | |
.za | ![]() |
Zuid-Afrika (Dutch) | .za derives from the Dutch name of the country, even though Dutch is no longer an official language of South Africa. | ZA Domain Name Authority[73][74][75] | Yes | Yes | 7 November 1990 | ||
.zm | ![]() |
Zambia | No | Yes[W] | 25 March 1994 | ||||
.zw | ![]() |
Zimbabwe | No | No | 6 November 1991 |
- Table Notes
- ^ 17 November 2009, Spanish-Portuguese specific characters (á, â, ã, à, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü, ñ, ç) allowed, as approved by law.[5]
- ^ Mostly latin characters (à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ œ š ž), see[6]
- ^ Currently not allowed, but some higher-learning institutions were grandfathered-in.
- ^ Since March 2004, see[16]
- ^ Since July 1st, 2020[17]
- ^ IDN not adopted due to lack of public and corporate interest[18]
- ^ 93 non-ASCII characters, see[19]
- ^ 1 January 2004, support æ, ø, å, ö, ä, ü, & é: see[20]
- ^ Estonian domain names to incorporate diacritics (IDN) starting from 13 June 2011[21]
- ^ Supported characters: Latin, Greek, & Cyrillic; see[23]
- ^ September 2005, supported characters: š, ž, å, ä, ö and Sami language; see[25]
- ^ a b c d e f g (6 December 2011)[26]
- ^ Support for Greek characters since July 2005; see[29]
- ^ a b c d Delegation Signer (DS) record in a root zone has not yet been published.
- ^ October 2003, for Swedish characters, summer 2007 also for Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, Sami, and Yiddish; see[58]
- ^ Since October 2010, see[60]
- ^ (28 April 2008[update]) see[62]
- ^ 14 November 2006; see[65]
- ^ 21 July 2015; see[66]
- ^ Traditional Chinese characters: see[68]
- ^ IDN domain names available in some .UA subdomains since June 2012
- ^ .UA secure delegations available since October 2019
- ^ Restricted to ISPs and other undefined entities. See .zm .
Internationalized ccTLDs
[edit]DNS name | IDN ccTLD | Country/Region | Language | Script | Transliteration | Comments | Other ccTLD | DNSSEC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
xn--lgbbat1ad8j | .الجزائر | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | al-Jazā'ir | .dz | No | |
xn--y9a3aq | .հայ | ![]() |
Armenian | Armenian | hay | .am | Yes | |
xn--mgbcpq6gpa1a | .البحرين | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic | al-Baḥrain | Not in use | .bh | Yes |
xn--54b7fta0cc | .বাংলা | ![]() |
Bengali | Bengali | Bangla | .bd | No | |
xn--90ais | .бел | ![]() |
Belarusian | Cyrillic | bel | .by | Yes | |
xn--90ae | .бг[77] | ![]() |
Bulgarian | Cyrillic | bg | .bg | Yes | |
xn--fiqs8s | .中国 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Simplified) | Zhōngguó | .cn | Yes | |
xn--fiqz9s | .中國 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Traditional) | Zhōngguó | .cn | Yes | |
xn--wgbh1c | .مصر | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Miṣr / Maṣr[78] | .eg | Yes | |
xn--e1a4c | .ею | ![]() |
Bulgarian | Cyrillic | eyu | .eu | Yes | |
xn--qxa6a | .ευ | ![]() |
Greek | Greek | ey | In use since 2022 | .eu | Yes |
xn--node | .გე | ![]() |
Georgian | Georgian (Mkhedruli) | GE | .ge | No | |
xn--qxam | .ελ[77] | ![]() |
Greek | Greek | el | In use since July 2018 | .gr | Yes |
xn--j6w193g | .香港 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) | Hoeng1 gong2 / Xiānggǎng | .hk | Yes | |
xn--h2brj9c | .भारत | ![]() |
Hindi | Devanagari | Bhārat | Became available 27 August 2014[79] | .in | Yes |
xn--mgbbh1a71e | .بھارت | ![]() |
Urdu | Arabic (Urdu) | Bhārat | Became available 2017 | .in | Yes |
xn--fpcrj9c3d | .భారత్ | ![]() |
Telugu | Telugu | Bhārat | Became available 2017 | .in | Yes |
xn--gecrj9c | .ભારત | ![]() |
Gujarati | Gujarati | Bhārat | Became available 2017 | .in | Yes |
xn--s9brj9c | .ਭਾਰਤ | ![]() |
Punjabi | Gurmukhī | Bhārat | Became available 2017 | .in | Yes |
xn--xkc2dl3a5ee0h | .இந்தியா | ![]() |
Tamil | Tamil | Intiyā | Became available 2015 | .in | Yes |
xn--45brj9c | .ভারত | ![]() |
Bengali | Bengali | Bharôt | Became available 2017 | .in | Yes |
xn--2scrj9c | .ಭಾರತ | ![]() |
Kannada | Kannada | Bhārata | Became available 2020 | .in | Yes |
xn--rvc1e0am3e | .ഭാരതം | ![]() |
Malayalam | Malayalam | Bhāratam | Became available 2020 | .in | Yes |
xn--45br5cyl | .ভাৰত | ![]() |
Assamese | Bengali | Bharatam | Became available 2022 | .in | Yes |
xn--3hcrj9c | .ଭାରତ | ![]() |
Oriya | Oriya | Bhārat | Became available 2021 | .in | Yes |
xn--mgbbh1a | .بارت | ![]() |
Kashmiri | Arabic (Kashmiri) | Bārat | Became available 2022 | .in | Yes |
xn--h2breg3eve | .भारतम् | ![]() |
Sanskrit | Devanagari | Bhāratam | Became available 2022 | .in | Yes |
xn--h2brj9c8c | .भारोत | ![]() |
Santali | Devanagari | Bharot | Became available 2022 | .in | Yes |
xn--mgbgu82a | .ڀارت | ![]() |
Sindhi | Arabic (Sindhi) | Bhārat | Became available 2022 | .in | Yes |
xn--mgba3a4f16a | .ایران | ![]() |
Persian | Arabic (Persian) | Īrān | .ir | No | |
xn--mgbtx2b | .عراق | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | ʿIrāq | Not in use | .iq | No |
xn--4dbrk0ce | .ישראל | ![]() |
Hebrew | Hebrew | Israel | Became available 2022 | .il | Yes |
xn--mgbayh7gpa | .الاردن | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | al-Urdun | .jo | No | |
xn--80ao21a | .қаз | ![]() |
Kazakh | Cyrillic (Kazakh) | qaz | .kz | No | |
xn--q7ce6a | .ລາວ | ![]() |
Lao | Lao | Lao | Became available 2020 | .la | Yes |
xn--mix082f | .澳门 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Simplified) | Ou3 mun4 / Àomén | Not in use | .mo | No |
xn--mix891f | .澳門 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Traditional) | Ou3 mun4 / Àomén | Became available 2020 | .mo | No |
xn--mgbx4cd0ab | .مليسيا | ![]() |
Malay | Arabic (Jawi) | Malaysīyā | .my | Yes | |
xn--mgbah1a3hjkrd | .موريتانيا | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Mūrītāniyā | .mr | Yes | |
xn--l1acc | .мон | ![]() |
Mongolian | Cyrillic (Mongolian) | mon | .mn | Yes | |
xn--mgbc0a9azcg | .المغرب | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | al-Maġrib | .ma | No | |
xn--d1alf | .мкд | ![]() |
Macedonian | Cyrillic (Macedonian) | mkd | .mk | No | |
xn--mgb9awbf | .عمان | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | ʿUmān | .om | No | |
xn--mgbai9azgqp6j | .پاکستان | ![]() |
Urdu | Arabic (Urdu) | Pākistān | .pk | Yes | |
xn--ygbi2ammx | .فلسطين | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Filasṭīn | .ps | No | |
xn--wgbl6a | .قطر | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Qaṭar | .qa | No | |
xn--p1ai | .рф | ![]() |
Russian | Cyrillic (Russian) | rf | .ru | Yes | |
xn--mgberp4a5d4ar | .السعودية | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | as-Suʿūdīya | .sa | Yes | |
xn--90a3ac | .срб | ![]() |
Serbian | Cyrillic (Serbian) | srb | .rs | Yes | |
xn--yfro4i67o | .新加坡 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) | Xīnjiāpō | .sg | Yes | |
xn--clchc0ea0b2g2a9gcd | .சிங்கப்பூர் | ![]() |
Tamil | Tamil | Cinkappūr | .sg | Yes | |
xn--3e0b707e | .한국 | ![]() |
Korean | Hangul | Han-guk | .kr | Yes | |
xn--fzc2c9e2c | .ලංකා | ![]() |
Sinhala | Sinhala | Lanka | .lk | No | |
xn--xkc2al3hye2a | .இலங்கை | ![]() |
Tamil | Tamil | Ilaṅkai | .lk | No | |
xn--mgbpl2fh | .سودان | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Sūdān | .sd | No | |
xn--ogbpf8fl | .سورية | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Sūriyya | .sy | No | |
xn--kprw13d | .台湾 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Simplified) | Táiwān | .tw | Yes | |
xn--kpry57d | .台灣 | ![]() |
Chinese | Chinese (Traditional) | Táiwān | .tw | Yes | |
xn--o3cw4h | .ไทย | ![]() |
Thai | Thai | Thai | .th | Yes | |
xn--pgbs0dh | .تونس | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Tūnis | .tn | Yes | |
xn--j1amh | .укр | ![]() |
Ukrainian | Cyrillic (Ukrainian) | ukr | .ua | No | |
xn--mgbaam7a8h | .امارات | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | Imārāt | .ae | No | |
xn--mgb2ddes | .اليمن | ![]() |
Arabic | Arabic (Arabic) | al-Yaman | Not delegated | .ye | No |
- Table notes
Proposed internationalized ccTLDs
[edit]Internationalised domain names have been proposed for Japan and Libya.
Relation to ISO 3166-1
[edit]The IANA is not in the business of deciding what is and what is not a country. The selection of the ISO 3166 list as a basis for country code top-level domain names was made with the knowledge that ISO has a procedure for determining which entities should be and should not be on that list.
— Jon Postel, RFC 1591[80]
Unused ISO 3166-1 codes
[edit]Almost all current ISO 3166-1 codes have been assigned and do exist in DNS.
However, some of these are effectively unused. In particular, the ccTLDs for the Norwegian dependency Bouvet Island (bv
) and the designation Svalbard and Jan Mayen (sj
) do exist in DNS, but no subdomains have been assigned, and it is Norid policy to not assign any at present. Two French territories—bl
(Saint Barthélemy) and mf
(Saint Martin)—still[update] await local assignment by France's government.
The code eh
, although eligible as ccTLD for Western Sahara, has never been assigned and does not exist in DNS. Only one subdomain is still registered in gb
[81] (ISO 3166-1 for the United Kingdom), and no new registrations are being accepted for it. Sites in the United Kingdom generally useuk
(see below).
The former .um ccTLD for the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands was removed in April 2008. Under RFC 1591 rules, .um is eligible as a ccTLD on request by the relevant governmental agency and local Internet user community.
ASCII ccTLDs not in ISO 3166-1
[edit]Several ASCII ccTLDs are in use that are not ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes. Some of these codes were specified in older versions of the ISO list.
uk
(United Kingdom): The ISO 3166-1 code for the United Kingdom is GB. However, the JANET network had already selecteduk
as a top-level identifier for its pre-existing Name Registration Scheme, and this was incorporated into the DNS root.gb
was assigned with the intention of a transition, but this never occurred and the use ofuk
is now entrenched.[82]su
This obsolete ISO 3166 code for the Soviet Union was assigned when the Soviet Union still existed; moreover, newsu
registrations are accepted.ac
(Ascension Island): This code is a vestige of IANA's decision in 1996 to allow the use of codes reserved in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 reserve list for use by the Universal Postal Union. The decision was later reversed, with Ascension Island now the sole outlier. (Three other ccTLDs,gg
(Guernsey),im
(Isle of Man) andje
(Jersey) also fell under this category from 1996 until they received corresponding ISO 3166 codes in March 2006.)eu
(European Union): On September 25, 2000, ICANN decided to allow the use of any two-letter code in the ISO 3166-1 reserve list that is reserved for all purposes. Only EU currently meets this criterion. Following a decision by the EU's Council of Telecommunications Ministers in March 2002, progress was slow, but a registry (named EURid) was chosen by the European Commission, and criteria for allocation set: ICANN approvedeu
as a ccTLD, and it opened for registration on 7 December 2005 for the holders of prior rights. Since 7 April 2006, registration is open to all in the European Economic Area.
Historical ccTLDs
[edit]ccTLDs may be removed if that country ceases to exist. There are three ccTLDs that have been deleted after the corresponding 2-letter code was withdrawn from ISO 3166-1: cs
(for Czechoslovakia), zr
(for Zaire) and tp
(for East Timor). There may be a significant delay between withdrawal from ISO 3166-1 and deletion from the DNS; for example, ZR ceased to be an ISO 3166-1 code in 1997, but the zr
ccTLD was not deleted until 2001. Other ccTLDs corresponding to obsolete ISO 3166-1 codes have not yet been deleted. In some cases they may never be deleted due to the amount of disruption this would cause for a heavily used ccTLD. In particular, the Soviet Union's ccTLD su
remains in use more than twenty years after SU was removed from ISO 3166-1.
The historical country codes dd
for the German Democratic Republic and yd
for South Yemen were eligible for a ccTLD, but not allocated; see also de
and ye
.
The temporary reassignment of country code cs
(Serbia and Montenegro) until its split into rs
and me
(Serbia and Montenegro, respectively) led to some controversies[83][84] about the stability of ISO 3166-1 country codes, resulting in a second edition of ISO 3166-1 in 2007 with a guarantee that retired codes will not be reassigned for at least 50 years, and the replacement of RFC 3066 by RFC 4646 for country codes used in language tags in 2006.
The previous ISO 3166-1 code for Yugoslavia, YU, was removed by ISO on 23 July 2003, but the yu
ccTLD remained in operation. Finally, after a two-year transition to Serbian rs
and Montenegrin me
, the .yu domain was phased out in March 2010.
Australia was originally assigned the oz
country code, which was later changed to au
with the .oz
domains moved to .oz.au
.
Internationalized ccTLDs
[edit]An internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) is a top-level domain with a specially encoded domain name that is displayed in an end user application, such as a web browser, in its native language script or a non-alphabetic writing system, such as Latin script (.us, .uk and .br), Indic script (.भारत) and Korean script (.한국), etc. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the internationalized domain name (IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, including the United Kingdom, or independent geographic regions.
ICANN started to accept applications for IDN ccTLDs in November 2009,[85] and installed the first set into the Domain Names System in May 2010. The first set was a group of Arabic names for the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. By May 2010, 21 countries had submitted applications to ICANN, representing 11 languages.[86]
ICANN requires all potential international TLDs to use at least one letter that does not resemble a Latin letter, or have at least three letters, in an effort to avoid IDN homograph attacks. Nor shall the international domain name look like another domain name, even if they have different alphabets. Between Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, for example, this could happen.[citation needed]
Generic ccTLDs
[edit]Generic Country Code Top-Level Domain or gccTLD refers to those TLDs which are technically "non-restricted ccTLDs" but used like traditional generic TLDs (gTLDs) rather than "country"-targeted ones.[87][88][89] Most of the gccTLDs are primarily used as domain hacks:
Unconventional usage
[edit]Lenient registration restrictions on certain ccTLDs have resulted in various domain hacks. Domain names such as I.am
, tip.it
, start.at
and go.to
form well-known English phrases, whereas others combine the second-level domain and ccTLD to form one word or one title, creating domains such as blo.gs
of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (gs
), youtu.be
of Belgium (be
), del.icio.us
of the United States (us
), and cr.yp.to
of Tonga (to
). The .co
domain of Colombia has been cited since 2010 as a potential competitor to generic TLDs for commercial use, because it may be an abbreviation for company.[90]
Several ccTLDs allow the creation of emoji domains.
Some ccTLDs may also be used for typosquatting. The domain cm of Cameroon has generated interest due to the possibility that people might miss typing the letter o for sites in the com.[91]
Commercial use
[edit]Some of the world's smallest countries and non-sovereign or colonial entities with their own country codes have opened their TLDs for worldwide commercial use, some of them free like .tk.
See also
[edit]- List of ccTLDs
- Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses
- Country code second-level domain
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 assigned codes
- Geographic top-level domain, a type of generic top-level domain
- List of NATO country codes
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External links
[edit]- Official website
- "World Intellectual Property Organization". Domain name dispute resolution. WIPO.
- "World-Wide Alliance of Top Level Domain-names".
- "Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO)". ICANN.
- Baskerville, Robert (Jan 16, 2008). "ccTLD and TLD analysis (of several Zone files)". Archived from the original on 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2008-01-13.