Domain Name Extensions

In the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet, domain name extensions such as .com and .us form the highest level, and hence, they are technically referred to as top level domains (TLD). In simple words, it is a term used to refer to various suffixes which are found at the end of a particular domain name. Even though all of us use top level domains when we surf the Internet, not many of us are familiar about what these domains are all about. Simply put, these domain extensions help the server separate domains on the basis of the function or country of origin and therefore, choosing the right extension is one of the most crucial aspect of domain name registration.

Top Level Domains (TLD)

One of the largest top level domains is the .com domain - which was one of the seven original top-level domains which were introduced in January 1985 when the Domain Name System was implemented. The other six domains were .edu, .gov, .mil, .net, .org, and .arpa. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) recognizes four different top level domain groups - the country-code top-level domains (abbreviated as ccTLD), internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLD), generic top-level domains (gTLD) and infrastructure top-level domain. The extensions list given below consists of some of the most popular top level domains in the world.

Entity	Domain Extension
Commercial	.com
International organizations	.int
Governmental	.gov
Network	.net
Organization	.org
Educational	.edu
Information	.info
Business	.biz
U.S. military	.mil
Asia-Pacific region	.asia
Mobile devices	.mobi
Air-transport industry	.aero
Adult entertainment websites	.xxx

Domain Name Extensions by Country

Generally, a country is designated the domain name system by its two letter ISO country code, owing to which it is also referred to as country-code top-level domains (ccTLD). You may come across a few exceptions to this rule, but generally ISO country code is the base criteria. Given below is a list of domain extensions for different countries of the world.

Country	Domain Extension
Afghanistan	.af
Albania	.al
Algeria	.dz
American Samoa	.as
Andorra	.ad
Angola	.ao
Anguilla	.ai
Antarctica	.aq
Antigua and Barbuda	.ag
Argentina	.ar
Armenia	.am
Ascension Island	.ac
Australia	.au
Austria	.at
Azerbaijan	.az
Bahamas	.bs
Bahrain	.bh
Bangladesh	.bd
Barbados	.bb
Belarus	.by
Belgium	.be
Bermuda	.bm
Bhutan	.bt
Bolivia	.bo
Bosnia and Herzegovina	.ba
Botswana	.bw
Bouvet Island	.bv
Brazil	.br
Bulgaria	.bg
Burundi	.bi
Cambodia	.kh
Cameroon	.cm
Canada	.ca
Cape Verde	.cv
Cayman Islands	.ky
Central African Republic	.cf
Chad	.td
Chile	.cl
Christmas Island	.cx
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	.cc
Colombia	.co
Cook Islands	.ck
Costa Rica	.cr
Côte d'Ivoire	.ci
Croatia	.hr
Cuba	.cu
Cyprus	.cy
Czech Republic	.cz
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	.kp
Democratic Republic of the Congo	.cd
Denmark	.dk
Djibouti	.dj
Dominica	.dm
Dominican Republic	.do
East Timor	.tl
East Timor	.tp
Ecuador	.ec
Egypt	.eg
El Salvador	.sv
Equatorial Guinea	.gq
Eritrea	.er
Estonia	.ee
Ethiopia	.et
European Union	.eu
Falkland Islands	.fk
Faroe Islands	.fo
Fiji	.fj
Finland	.fi
France	.fr
French Guiana	.gf
French Polynesia	.pf
Gabon	.ga
Georgia	.ge
Germany	.de
Ghana	.gh
Gibraltar	.gi
Greece	.gr
Greenland	.gl
Grenada	.gd
Guam	.gu
Guatemala	.gt
Guernsey	.gg
Guinea-Bissau	.gw
Guinea	.gn
Guyana	.gy
Haiti	.ht
Honduras	.hn
Hong Kong	.hk
Hungary	.hu
Iceland	.is
India	.in
Indonesia	.id
Iran	.ir
Iraq	.iq
Ireland	.ie
Israel	.il
Italy	.it
Jamaica	.jm
Japan	.jp
Jersey	.je
Jordan	.jo
Kazakhstan	.kz
Kenya	.ke
Kuwait	.kw
Kyrgyzstan	.kg
Laos	.la
Latvia	.lv
Lebanon	.lb
Lesotho	.ls
Liberia	.lr
Libya	.ly
Liechtenstein	.li
Lithuania	.lt
Luxembourg	.lu
acau	.mo
Madagascar	.mg
Malawi	.mw
Malaysia	.my
Maldives	.mv
Mali	.ml
Malta	.mt
Marshall Islands	.mh
Martinique	.mq
Mauritania	.mr
Mauritius	.mu
Mexico	.mx
Moldova	.md
Monaco	.mc
Mongolia	.mn
Montenegro	.me
Morocco	.ma
Mozambique	.mz
Myanmar	.mm
Namibia	.na
Nauru	.nr
Nepal	.np
Netherlands Antilles	.an
Netherlands	.nl
New Zealand	.nz
Nicaragua	.ni
Niger	.ne
Nigeria	.ng
Niue	.nu
Norfolk Island	.nf
Norway	.no
Oman	.om
Pakistan	.pk
Palestinian territories	.ps
Panama	.pa
Papua New Guinea	.pg
Paraguay	.py
People's Republic of China	.cn
Peru	.pe
Philippines	.ph
Pitcairn Islands	.pn
Poland	.pl
Portugal	.pt
Puerto Rico	.pr
Qatar	.qa
Republic of China (Taiwan)	.tw
Republic of Korea	.kr
Republic of Macedonia	.mk
Republic of the Congo	.cg
Romania	.ro
Russia	.ru
Rwanda	.rw
Saint Kitts and Nevis	.kn
Saint Lucia	.lc
Samoa	.ws
San Marino	.sm
Saudi Arabia	.sa
Senegal	.sn
Serbia	.rs
Seychelles	.sc
Sierra Leone	.sl
Singapore	.sg
Slovakia	.sk
Slovenia	.si
Solomon Islands	.sb
Somalia	.so
South Africa	.za
Spain	.es
Sri Lanka	.lk
Sudan	.sd
Suriname	.sr
Swaziland	.sz
Sweden	.se
Switzerland	.ch
Syria	.sy
Tajikistan	.tj
Tanzania	.tz
Thailand	.th
Togo	.tg
Tonga	.to
Trinidad and Tobago	.tt
Tunisia	.tn
Turkey	.tr
Turkmenistan	.tm
Turks and Caicos Islands	.tc
Tuvalu	.tv
United Arab Emirates	.ae
U.S. Virgin Islands	.vi
Uganda	.ug
Ukraine	.ua
United Kingdom	.gb
United Kingdom	.uk
United States of America	.us
Uruguay	.uy
Uzbekistan	.uz
Vanuatu	.vu
Venezuela	.ve
Vietnam	.vn
Yemen	.ye
Zambia	.zm
Zimbabwe	.zw

This was an exhaustive list of common and new types of domain extensions, provided with the intention of making you familiar with the concept of top level domains (TLDs). The lists included international domain name extensions as well as country specific domain names that are in use today. If you intend to register a domain name, you can choose an extension from this list in accordance to the content that you would be providing on your website and/or which country you reside in. Interestingly, you can also opt for .name domain - but only if you don't mind spending some extra dollars on the same.