A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...
generally used or reserved for a
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
, sovereign state, or
dependent territory identified with a
country code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes (geocodes) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The term ...
. All
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
In 2018, the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Inte ...
(IANA) began implementing
internationalized country code top-level domain
An internationalized country code top-level domain is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. IDN ccTLDs are specially encoded domain names that are displayed in an end user application, such as a web browser, in the ...
s, 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
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of ...
country codes
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes (geocodes) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The term ' ...
. While
gTLD
Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. A top-level domain is the last level of eve ...
s 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 today or as of 2022, ccTLDs make up about 40% of the total domain name industry.
Country code extension applications began in 1985. The registered country code extensions in that year included
.us
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in early 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations, or a foreign entity with a presence in the United ...
(United States),
.uk
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
, it is the fift ...
(United Kingdom) and
.il
.il is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Israel, administered by the Israel Internet Association and managed bNIC - ISRAEL which hosts the DNS root server and manages the Israeli Internet Exchange, that supports IPv4 and I ...
(Israel). The registered country code extensions in 1986 included
.au
.au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was created on 5 March 1986. Domain name policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA). As of July 2018, the registry is operated by Afilias.
History
The d ...
(Australia),
.de
.de is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC (the Network Information Centre responsible for .de domains) does not require specific second-level domains, and there are no official ccSLDs under .d ...
(Germany),
.fi (Finland),
.fr
.fr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for France. It is administered by AFNIC. The domain includes all individuals and organizations registered at the Association française pour le ...
(France),
.is
.is (dot is) is the top-level domain for Iceland. The country code is derived from the first two letters of '' Ísland'', which is the Icelandic word for Iceland. Registration of .is domains is open to all people and companies without any specia ...
(Iceland),
.jp
The web address suffix .jp is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Japan. It was established in 1986 and is administered by the Japan Registry Services.
History
At the establishment of the .jp domain, the domain was administe ...
(Japan),
.kr
.kr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Registrations are processed via registration agents.
From September 2006, it became possible to register domain names directly under .kr (altho ...
(South Korea),
.nl
.nl is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Netherlands. It is one of the most popular ccTLDs with over six million registered .nl domains .
When cwi.nl was registered by Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica on 1986-05-01, .nl ...
(Netherlands) and
.se
.se, formerly branded as .SE, is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is ...
(Sweden). The registered country code extensions in 1987 included
.nz
.nz is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five ...
(New Zealand),
.ch
.ch is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Switzerland in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Made available in 1987, only two years after .com, it is administered by SWITCH Information Technology Services.
The domain ''ch'', as ...
(Switzerland) and
.ca
.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. The domain name registry that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).
Registrants can register domains at the second level (e.g., ''example.ca'') ...
(Canada). The registered country code extensions in 1988 included
.ie
.ie is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) which corresponds with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Ireland. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) list the Computing Services Computer Centre of University College Dublin as its spo ...
(Ireland)
.it
.it is the national top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Italy.
Registration is open to organisations and individuals of legal age who are citizens or residents of/headquartered in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatica ...
(Italy),
.es
.es (espana) is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain. It is administered by the Network Information Centre of Spain.
Registrations are permitted at the second level or at the third level beneath various generic second level categ ...
(Spain) and
.pt
.pt is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Portugal and is managed by Associação DNS.PT.
It has the following second-level domains:
* .com.pt: no restrictions; online registration
* .edu.pt: education
* .gov.pt: Governmen ...
(Portugal). In the 1990s,
.cn
.cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registr ...
(People’s Republic of China) and
.ru
.ru is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Russia introduced on 7 April 1994. The Russian alphabet internationalized country code is .рф.
Control of .ru is assigned to the Coordination Center for TLD ...
(Russian Federation) were first registered.
There are 308 delegated ccTLDs. The
.cn
.cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registr ...
,
.tk
.tk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific. It can be registered on the company Freenom.
Overview
Tokelau allows any individual to register domain names. Users and smal ...
,
.de
.de is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC (the Network Information Centre responsible for .de domains) does not require specific second-level domains, and there are no official ccSLDs under .d ...
,
.uk
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
, it is the fift ...
,
.nl
.nl is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Netherlands. It is one of the most popular ccTLDs with over six million registered .nl domains .
When cwi.nl was registered by Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica on 1986-05-01, .nl ...
and
.ru
.ru is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Russia introduced on 7 April 1994. The Russian alphabet internationalized country code is .рф.
Control of .ru is assigned to the Coordination Center for TLD ...
ccTLDs contain the highest number of domains. The
.jp
The web address suffix .jp is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Japan. It was established in 1986 and is administered by the Japan Registry Services.
History
At the establishment of the .jp domain, the domain was administe ...
,
.kr
.kr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Registrations are processed via registration agents.
From September 2006, it became possible to register domain names directly under .kr (altho ...
,
.ca
.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. The domain name registry that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).
Registrants can register domains at the second level (e.g., ''example.ca'') ...
,
.pl
is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Poland, administered by NASK, the Polish research and development organization. It is one of the founding members of CENTR.
History
The domain was created in 1990, following the mit ...
,
.gr
.gr is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Greece. Registrations are processed via accredited registrars and domain names in Greek characters may also be registered.
Second level domains
There are five official second level domains: ...
,
.cz
.cz is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Czech Republic. It is administered by CZ.NIC. Registrations must be ordered via accredited domain name registrars.
Until Czechoslovakia was dissolved in 1993, it used the domain '' .cs''. ...
,
.hu
.hu is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the ...
,
.au
.au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was created on 5 March 1986. Domain name policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA). As of July 2018, the registry is operated by Afilias.
History
The d ...
,
.fr
.fr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for France. It is administered by AFNIC. The domain includes all individuals and organizations registered at the Association française pour le ...
,
.it
.it is the national top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Italy.
Registration is open to organisations and individuals of legal age who are citizens or residents of/headquartered in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatica ...
,
.es
.es (espana) is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain. It is administered by the Network Information Centre of Spain.
Registrations are permitted at the second level or at the third level beneath various generic second level categ ...
and
.us
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in early 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations, or a foreign entity with a presence in the United ...
ccTLDs do not contain as many domains as other ccTLDs. 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.
Delegation and management
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. 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
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
(
jp),
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
(
ca),
French (
fr) and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(
de) domains, or registration may be open.
History
The first registered ccTLD was
.us
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in early 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations, or a foreign entity with a presence in the United ...
, which was registered in 1985. Later ccTLDs registered in that year included
.uk
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
, it is the fift ...
and
.il
.il is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Israel, administered by the Israel Internet Association and managed bNIC - ISRAEL which hosts the DNS root server and manages the Israeli Internet Exchange, that supports IPv4 and I ...
. Then,
.au
.au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was created on 5 March 1986. Domain name policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA). As of July 2018, the registry is operated by Afilias.
History
The d ...
,
.de
.de is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC (the Network Information Centre responsible for .de domains) does not require specific second-level domains, and there are no official ccSLDs under .d ...
,
.fi,
.fr
.fr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for France. It is administered by AFNIC. The domain includes all individuals and organizations registered at the Association française pour le ...
,
.is
.is (dot is) is the top-level domain for Iceland. The country code is derived from the first two letters of '' Ísland'', which is the Icelandic word for Iceland. Registration of .is domains is open to all people and companies without any specia ...
,
.jp
The web address suffix .jp is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Japan. It was established in 1986 and is administered by the Japan Registry Services.
History
At the establishment of the .jp domain, the domain was administe ...
,
.kr
.kr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Registrations are processed via registration agents.
From September 2006, it became possible to register domain names directly under .kr (altho ...
,
.nl
.nl is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Netherlands. It is one of the most popular ccTLDs with over six million registered .nl domains .
When cwi.nl was registered by Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica on 1986-05-01, .nl ...
and
.se
.se, formerly branded as .SE, is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is ...
were also registered in 1986. In 1987,
.nz
.nz is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five ...
,
.ch
.ch is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Switzerland in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Made available in 1987, only two years after .com, it is administered by SWITCH Information Technology Services.
The domain ''ch'', as ...
and
.ca
.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. The domain name registry that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).
Registrants can register domains at the second level (e.g., ''example.ca'') ...
were registered. Later on, in 1988,
.ie
.ie is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) which corresponds with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Ireland. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) list the Computing Services Computer Centre of University College Dublin as its spo ...
,
.it
.it is the national top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Italy.
Registration is open to organisations and individuals of legal age who are citizens or residents of/headquartered in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatica ...
,
.es
.es (espana) is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain. It is administered by the Network Information Centre of Spain.
Registrations are permitted at the second level or at the third level beneath various generic second level categ ...
and
.pt
.pt is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Portugal and is managed by Associação DNS.PT.
It has the following second-level domains:
* .com.pt: no restrictions; online registration
* .edu.pt: education
* .gov.pt: Governmen ...
were also registered.
Lists
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.
The number is 308 .
Latin Character ccTLDs
:
;Table Notes:
Internationalized ccTLDs
; Table notes:
Proposed internationalized ccTLDs
Internationalised domain names have been proposed for
Japan and
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
.
Relation to ISO 3166-1
Unused ISO 3166-1 codes
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
Bouvet Island ( ; or ''Bouvetøyen'') is an island claimed by Norway, and declared an uninhabited protected nature reserve. It is a subantarctic volcanic island, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean at the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic R ...
(
bv
) and the designation
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Svalbard and Jan Mayen ( no, Svalbard og Jan Mayen, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2: SJ, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: SJM, ISO 3166-1 numeric: 744) is a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1 for a collective grouping of two remote jurisdictions of Norway: ...
(
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
Saint Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in English ...
) and
mf
(
Saint Martin)— await local assignment by France's government.
The code
eh
, although eligible as ccTLD for
Western Sahara
Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...
, has never been assigned and does not exist in
DNS. Only one subdomain is still registered in
gb
(ISO 3166-1 for the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
), and no new registrations are being accepted for it. Sites in the United Kingdom generally use
uk
(see below).
The former
.um
.um was the Internet country code top-level domain for the United States Minor Outlying Islands. It was administered by the United States Minor Outlying Islands Registry. Until late 2006 USMIR was housed at the University of Southern California ...
ccTLD for the
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands was removed in April 2008. Under RFC 1591 rules,
.um
.um was the Internet country code top-level domain for the United States Minor Outlying Islands. It was administered by the United States Minor Outlying Islands Registry. Until late 2006 USMIR was housed at the University of Southern California ...
is eligible as a ccTLD on request by the relevant governmental agency and local Internet user community.
ASCII ccTLDs not in ISO 3166-1
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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
): The ISO 3166-1 code for the United Kingdom is GB. However, the
JANET
Janet may refer to:
Names
* Janet (given name)
* Janet (French singer) (1939–2011)
Surname
* Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table
* Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...
network had already selected
uk
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 of
uk
is now entrenched.
*
su
This obsolete ISO 3166 code for the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
was assigned when the Soviet Union still existed; moreover, new
su
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
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of ...
reserve list for use by the
Universal Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to ...
. The decision was later reversed, with Ascension Island now the sole outlier. (Three other ccTLDs,
gg
(
Guernsey),
im
(
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
) and
je
(
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...
) also fell under this category from 1996 until they received corresponding ISO 3166 codes in March 2006.)
*
eu
(
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
): On September 25, 2000,
ICANN decided to allow the use of any two-letter code in the
ISO 3166-1
ISO 3166-1 (''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes'') is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It ...
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 Registry may refer to:
Computing
* Container registry, an operating-system-level virtualization registry
* Domain name registry, a database of top-level internet domain names
* Local Internet registry
* Metadata registry, information system for re ...
(named
EURid) was chosen by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
, and criteria for allocation set:
ICANN approved
eu
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
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
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
),
zr
(for
Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
) and
tp
(for
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
). 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
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
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
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
and
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
, respectively) led to some controversies 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
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, 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
An
internationalized country code top-level domain
An internationalized country code top-level domain is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. IDN ccTLDs are specially encoded domain names that are displayed in an end user application, such as a web browser, in the ...
(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
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
, in its native language script or a non-alphabetic
writing system
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...
, such as
Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...
(.us, .uk and .br),
Indic script
The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...
(.) and
Korean script
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...
(.), etc. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the
internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in non-latin script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Bengali, Chinese ( Mandarin, simplif ...
(IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, including the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, or independent geographic regions.
ICANN started to accept applications for IDN ccTLDs in November 2009, 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.
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 attack
The internationalized domain name (IDN) homograph attack is a way a malicious party may deceive computer users about what remote system they are communicating with, by exploiting the fact that many different characters look alike (i.e., they ar ...
s. 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.
Generic ccTLDs
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. Most of the gccTLDs are primarily used as
domain hack
A domain hack is a domain name that suggests a word, phrase, or name when concatenating two or more adjacent levels of that domain. For example, and , using the fictitious country-code domains ''.ds'' and ''.le'', suggest the words ''birds'' an ...
s:
Unconventional usage
Lenient registration restrictions on certain ccTLDs have resulted in various
domain hack
A domain hack is a domain name that suggests a word, phrase, or name when concatenating two or more adjacent levels of that domain. For example, and , using the fictitious country-code domains ''.ds'' and ''.le'', suggest the words ''birds'' an ...
s. 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
In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD or 2LD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in , is the second-level domain of the TLD.
Second-level domains commonly refer to the organ ...
and ccTLD to form one word or one title, creating domains such as
blo.gs
Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The co ...
of
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type =
, song =
, image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg
, map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...
(
gs
),
youtu.be
of
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
(
be
),
del.icio.us
Delicious (stylized del.icio.us) was a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter and Peter Gadjokov in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. By the end of 2008, ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
(
us
), and
cr.yp.to
of
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
(
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''.
Several ccTLDs allow the creation of
emoji domain
An emoji domain is a domain name with one or more emoji in it, for example 😉..
Function
With the exception of the information emoji (), the trademark emoji () and the "m" emoji (), for an emoji to work as a domain name, it must be conver ...
s.
Some ccTLDs may also be used for
typosquatting
Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, a sting site, or a fake URL, is a form of cybersquatting, and possibly brandjacking which relies on mistakes such as typos made by Internet users when inputting a website address into a web browser. Shoul ...
. The domain ''cm'' of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
has generated interest due to the possibility that people might miss typing the letter ''o'' for sites in the ''com''.
[
]
Commercial use
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
.tk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific. It can be registered on the company Freenom.
Overview
Tokelau allows any individual to register domain names. Users and smal ...
.
See also
*
List of ccTLDs
*
Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses are Internet country code top-level domain that have adopted a policy for worldwide commercial use.
Some of the world's smallest countries have opened their country code domain to worldwide re ...
*
Country code second-level domain
*
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 assigned codes
*
Geographic top-level domain
A geographic top-level domain (often shortened as geographic TLD or geoTLD) is any of an unofficial group of top-level domains in the Domain Name System of the Internet using the name of or invoking an association with a geographical, geopolitica ...
, a type of generic top-level domain
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Country Code Top-Level Domain
International telecommunications
Top-level domains
Country codes
Domain Name System