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. IANA also oversees the approval process for new proposed top-level domains for ICANN. , the IANA root database includes 1593 TLDs. This database also includes 156 that are not assigned (revoked or retired) and 11 test domainsfox, all of which are not represented in IANA's TLD listing nor in the root.zone file (the file also includes one root domain). This number of active TLDs has decreased from 1502 in March 2021, reflecting removals, retirements, and changes in the root zone database.
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IANA distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains:
Seven generic top-level domains were created early in the development of the Internet, prior to the creation of ICANN in 1998.
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, with the addition of internationalized domains.
Internationalized domain names have been proposed for Japan and Libya.
All of these TLDs are internationalized domain names (IDN) and support second-level IDNs.
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.
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.
Within Microsoft Windows there are some special purpose domain names that partially conflict with publicly assigned ones.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has submitted several requests for comments on TLDs that could be used to represent local devices and services.
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. 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
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.