Country code top-level domain

Template:Short description 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.

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). 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.

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 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 (jp), Canadian (ca), French (fr) and German (de) domains, or registration may be open.

History

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. In 1987, .nz, .ch, .my and .ca were registered. Later on, in 1988, .ie, .it, .es and .pt 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 since June 2020Template:Dated maintenance category (articles), with the addition of internationalized domains.

Latin character ccTLDs

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, and um are not used for country code top-level domains.
Entity	Country, dependency, or region
Explanation	English name of the country. These are usually domains that arise from native name of the country (e.g. .de for Deutschland, German 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

Overview of Latin-character country-code TLDs

After clicking a letter, possibly scroll up to see rows hidden by sticky table headers. Template:Compact TOC Template:Sticky header

scope="col" Template:Verth	Entity	scope="col" Template:Verth	Notes	RegistryTemplate:Update inline	IDN	DNSSEC	SLD	IPv6	Introduction date
.ac	Template:Country data Ascension Island (United Kingdom)	Ascension Island	In ISO 3166-1, Ascension Island falls under Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha's code SH. AC is an exceptionally reserved ISO 3166-1 code. 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	Template:Dts
.ad	Andorra	Andorra		Nic.ad	No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ae	United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates		.aeDA	No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.af	Afghanistan	Afghanistan			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ag	Antigua and Barbuda	Antigua and Barbuda	Also unofficially used by German businesses (where AG is an abbreviation of Aktiengesellschaft).		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ai	Anguilla (United Kingdom)	Anguilla	Also unofficially used by tech companies specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence).		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.al	Albania	Albania	Citizenship no longer required.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.am	Armenia	Armenia	Also unofficially used by AM radio stations, podcasts or related business.		No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.ao	Angola	Angola			No	No	?		Template:Dts
.aq	Antarctica	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	No	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.ar	Argentina	Argentina		nic.ar	SpanishTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.as	American Samoa (United States)	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		Template:Dts
.at	Austria	Austria		Nic.at	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.au	Australia	Australia	Restrictions apply. In general, registrants must have an "Australian presence" and can be registered anywhere between one and five years. Includes Ashmore and Cartier Islands and Coral Sea Islands. Direct second-level domain registration (marketed as ".au Direct") has been available since 24 March 2022.	auDA	No	Yes	Yes (*From 24 Mar 2022)	Yes	Template:Dts
.aw	Aruba (Kingdom of the Netherlands)	Aruba, West Indies	Restricted to registered Aruban companies, organisations and citizens.		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ax	Åland (Finland)	.al and .ad already allocated			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.az	Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	Only for residents. Has a WHOIS-Server.		No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.ba	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina		University of Sarajevo - University tele-informatic Centre https://www.utic.unsa.ba https://www.nic.ba	No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bb	Barbados	Barbados			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bd	Bangladesh	Bangladesh	For individuals, registrant must have a valid NID. For companies, registrant must have a company or trademark registered in Bangladesh.	Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.be	Belgium	Belgium	Used for YouTube-related domains. Also unofficially used in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.	DNS Belgium	Latin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts (added to root zone)
.bf	Burkina Faso	Burkina Faso			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bg	Bulgaria	Bulgaria	See also .бг (.bg in Cyrillic) for IDN ccTLD.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.bh	Bahrain	Bahrain			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.bi	Burundi	Burundi			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bj	Benin	.be, .bn, and .bi already allocated			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bm	Bermuda (United Kingdom)	Bermuda	Local corporate registration required.		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.bn	Brunei	Brunei			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.bo	Bolivia	Bolivia			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bq	Template:Country data Caribbean Netherlands (Template:BON, Template:SAB, and Template:EUS)	.be and .bs already allocated							Template:Dts
.br	Brazil	Brasil (Portuguese)	Restricted. Registration is done under several categories (i.e.: .edu.br for higher education institutions, .gov.br for government agencies, etc.).		Portuguese	Yes	NoTemplate:Efn-ua		Template:Dts
.bs	Bahamas	Bahamas	Also unofficially used in the Canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.bt	Bhutan	Bhutan	Must have local presence in Bhutan, and valid trade license.		No	Yes	No		Template:Dts
.bw	Botswana	Botswana	May also be used for the Province of Walloon Brabant, Wallonia, Belgium.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.by	Belarus	Byelorussia (Russian)	Also unofficially used to denote Bayern (Bavaria), Germany.		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.bz	Belize	Belize	Also unofficially used in the province of Bozen (or South Tyrol, see .st).		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ca	Canada	Canada	Subject to Canadian Presence Requirements. Also unofficially used by some websites in the U.S. state of California.	CIRA	French	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.cc	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	Cocos Islands	Australian territory: not to be confused with Cocos Island in Guam. Marketed as a global domain, registration allowed worldwide, local presence not required; the domain is operated by eNIC, a VeriSign company.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.cd	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Congo, Democratic Republic	Also unofficially used for Compact disc-related domains.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.cf	Central African Republic	Central African Republic	Was previously used as a free domain service to the public.	SOCATEL	Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.cg	Republic of the Congo	Congo			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.ch	Switzerland	Confoederatio Helvetica (Latin)		SWITCH	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ci	Ivory Coast	Côte d'Ivoire (French)			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.ck	Cook Islands	Cook Islands			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.cl	Chile	Chile		NIC Chile	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.cm	Cameroon	Cameroon	A local entity or company in Cameroon is required to register a domain name.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.cn	People's Republic of China	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	Template:Dts
.co	Colombia	Colombia	Marketed as a global domain. Anyone can register. Also unofficially used as a shortening of .com		No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.cq	Sark (Channel Islands, Bailiwick of Guernsey)	.sa and .sk already allocated; Sercq (Norman French)	The ISO 3166-1 code element .cq has been exceptionally reserved to refer to Sark. Previously, Sark was represented by Guernsey's ccTLD .gg.	SarkID Group	No	No	No	No	Not yet published/operational; ISO's Technical Management Board requested that the ISO 3166/MA assign Sark the .cq code on Template:Dts
.cr	Costa Rica	Costa Rica			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.cu	Cuba	Cuba			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.cv	Cape Verde	Cape Verde	Also unofficially used for curriculum vitae-related domains.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.cw	Curaçao (Kingdom of the Netherlands)	Curaçao, West Indies				No	?		Template:Dts
.cx	Christmas Island	Christmas, Xmas			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.cy	Cyprus	Cyprus			No	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes		Template:Dts
.cz	Czech Republic	Czechia		CZ.NIC	NoTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.de	Germany	Deutschland (German)	German postal address for administrative contact (admin-c) required. Proxy registrations are allowed.	DENIC	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.dj	Djibouti	Djibouti	Also unofficially used by disc jockeys.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.dk	Denmark	Dansk (Danish)		Punktum DK	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.dm	Dominica	Dominica			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.do	Dominican Republic	Dominican			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.dz	Algeria	Dzayer (Algerian Arabic)		DZ NIC	No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ec	Ecuador	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		Template:Dts
.ee	Estonia	Eesti (Estonian)			YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.eg	Egypt	Egypt			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.eh	Western Sahara	Español Sahara and Saguía el Hamra (Spanish)	Unassigned.		No	No	No
.er	Eritrea	Eritrea				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.es	Spain	España (Spanish)		Red.es	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.et	Ethiopia	Ethiopia			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.eu	European Union	European Union	EU is an exceptionally reserved ISO 3166-1 code. 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	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.fi	Finland	Finland	Registration allowed worldwide, local presence not required.	Traficom	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.fj	Fiji	Fiji			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.fk	Falkland Islands (United Kingdom)	Falkland			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.fm	Federated States of Micronesia	Federated States of Micronesia	Also unofficially used by FM radio stations, podcasts or related business.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.fo	Faroe Islands (Kingdom of Denmark)	Føroyar (Faroese)		FO Council	No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.fr	France	France	Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua	AFNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ga	Gabon	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		Template:Dts
.gd	Grenada	Grenada			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ge	Template:Country data Georgia	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).		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.gf	French Guiana (France)	Guyane Française (French)			No	No			Template:Dts
.gg	Template:Country data Bailiwick of Guernsey	.gu, .gs, and .gy already allocated	Also unofficially used by video game-related websites (see GG (gaming)).	Island Networks Ltd.	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.gh	Ghana	Ghana			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.gi	Gibraltar (United Kingdom)	Gibraltar			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.gl	Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark)	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		Template:Dts
.gm	The Gambia	Gambia	Domain name should match the domain owner's name or trademarks. Common nouns are blocked.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.gn	Guinea	Guinea	A local contact is required.		No	Yes	No		Template:Dts
.gp	Guadeloupe (France)	Guadeloupe	Still used for Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin.		No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.gq	Equatorial Guinea	Guinée équatoriale (French)	Was previously used as a free domain service to the public.	GETESA	Yes	No			Template:Dts
.gr	Greece	Greece			YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.gs	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom)	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.gt	Guatemala	Guatemala			Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.gu	Guam (United States)	Guam			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.gw	Guinea-Bissau	Gine-Bisaawo (Fula)			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.gy	Guyana	Guyana			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.hk	Hong Kong	Hong Kong			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.hm	Template:Country data Heard Island and McDonald Islands	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		Template:Dts
.hn	Honduras	Honduras			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.hr	Croatia	Hrvatska (Serbo-Croatian)			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts (in root zone) March 1993
.ht	Haiti	Haiti			Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.hu	Hungary	Hungary	Limited to citizens of the European Union or entities established by law within the territory of the EU.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.id	Indonesia	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.	PANDI	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ie	Ireland	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).		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.il	Israel	Israel			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.im	Isle of Man	Isle of Man			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.in	India	India	Under INRegistry since April 2005 (except for gov.in, nic.in, mil.in, ac.in, edu.in, and res.in).	NIXI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.io	British Indian Ocean Territory (United Kingdom)	Indian Ocean	Used unofficially by technology companies, startups, browser games, 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		Template:Dts
.iq	Iraq	Iraq			No	PartialTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes		Template:Dts (in root zone)
.ir	Iran	Iran		IRNIC	Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.is	Iceland	Ísland (Icelandic)	Also unofficially used and marketed as a domain hack (for example it.is, that.is, etc.).	ISNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.it	Italy	Italy	Restricted to companies and individuals in the European Union.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts (in root zone) 1 January 1988 (fully active)
.je	Jersey	Jersey		Island Networks Ltd.	Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.jm	Jamaica	Jamaica			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.jo	Jordan	Jordan	MoDEE is the registry and registrar for domain names under .jo at both the first level and second level.	Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship		No	Yes		Template:Dts (in root zone)
.jp	Japan	Japan	Restricted to individuals or companies with a physical address in Japan.	Japan Registry Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.ke	Kenya	Kenya			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.kg	Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyzstan			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.kh	Cambodia	Khmer			No	No	No		Template:Dts
.ki	Kiribati	Kiribati			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.km	Comoros	Komori (Comorian)			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.kn	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Saint Kitts and Nevis			No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.kp	North Korea	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	Template:Dts
.kr	South Korea	Korea, Republic			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.kw	Kuwait	Kuwait				Yes	No		Template:Dts
.ky	Cayman Islands (United Kingdom)	.ci and .cy already allocated			No	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.kz	Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	"A prerequisite for server hardware is its physical location on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan."	KAZNIC	Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.la	Laos	Laos	Also marketed as the unofficial domain for Los Angeles.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.lb	Lebanon	Lebanon	Restricted to registration with companies in Lebanon.			Yes	No		Template:Dts
.lc	Saint Lucia	Saint Lucia				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.li	Liechtenstein	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		Template:Dts
.lk	Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.lr	Liberia	Liberia				PartialTemplate:Efn-ua	No		Template:Dts
.ls	Lesotho	Lesotho				No	No		Template:Dts
.lt	Lithuania	Lithuania			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.lu	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	Also unofficially used in Lucerne, Switzerland.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.lv	Latvia	Latvia		IMCS UL	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ly	Libya	Libya	Used unofficially as a domain hack for words ending in -ly.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ma	Morocco	Maroc (French)				PartialTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes		Template:Dts
.mc	Monaco	Monaco	Only for companies with a trademark registered in Monaco.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.md	Moldova	Moldova	Restricted to individuals or companies with a physical address in Moldova.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.me	Montenegro	Montenegro	Also unofficially used and marketed as a domain hack (for example love.me, meet.me, etc.).			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.mg	Madagascar	Madagascar	Restricted to registration with companies in Madagascar.	NIC-MG		No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mh	Marshall Islands	Marshall	Inactive.			No			Template:Dts
.mk	Template:Country data North Macedonia	Makedonija (Macedonian)				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.ml	Mali	Mali	Was previously used as a free domain service to the public.	AGETIC	Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mm	Myanmar	Myanmar				No	No		Template:Dts
.mn	Mongolia	Mongolia	The second-level domains .gov.mn, .org.mn, and .edu.mn are reserved for special use. See .mn for more information.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.mo	Macau	Macao	Registrants must have a registered business in Macau, with the same name as the domain they wish to register.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mp	Northern Mariana Islands (United States)	Marianas Pacific				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mq	Martinique (France)	Martinique (French)				No	No		Template:Dts
.mr	Mauritania	Mauritania				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ms	Montserrat (United Kingdom)	Montserrat	Also unofficially used for Microsoft-related domains.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mt	Malta	Malta				No	No		Template:Dts
.mu	Mauritius	Mauritius				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mv	Maldives	Maldives				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mw	Malawi	Malawi				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.mx	Mexico	Mexico				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.my	Malaysia	Malaysia	Restricted to registration by individuals or companies in Malaysia.	MYNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.mz	Mozambique	Mozambique				No	No		Template:Dts
.na	Namibia	Namibia				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.nc	New Caledonia (France)	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		Template:Dts
.ne	Niger	Niger				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.nf	Norfolk Island	Norfolk				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ng	Nigeria	Nigeria				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.ni	Nicaragua	Nicaragua				No	No		Template:Dts
.nl	Netherlands	Nederland (Dutch)	First active country-code domain outside the US.	Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.no	Norway	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	Template:Dts
.np	Nepal	Nepal	All .np domains are free to register for individuals and registered businesses but documents are necessary for verification. Foreign businesses must provide proof of local presence in Nepal.	Mercantile Communications		No	No		Template:Dts
.nr	Nauru	Nauru	Was previously used as a free domain service to the public as co.nr.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.nu	Niue	Niue	Commonly used by Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish websites, as in their respective languages "nu" means or implies "now".	The Swedish Internet Foundation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.nz	New Zealand	New Zealand			Māori	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.om	Oman	Oman	Registrant must have company or trademark registered in Oman as well as a local administrative contact.			No	No		Template:Dts
.pa	Panama	Panama	Some use in Pennsylvania.			No	No		Template:Dts
.pe	Peru	Peru	Also unofficially used for Private Equity-related businesses.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.pf	French Polynesia (France)	Polynésie française (French)	With Clipperton Island.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.pg	Papua New Guinea	Papua New Guinea	A Person applying for a .PG third level domain name must demonstrate: a local presence in PNG; or an interest in PNG. Registration will not be granted if the operation is solely conducted from overseas without any local interests.	PNG University of Technology	No	Yes	No	Yes	Template:Dts
.ph	Philippines	Philippines				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.pk	Pakistan	Pakistan	Operated by PKNIC since 1992.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.pl	Poland	Poland			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.pm	Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (France)	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua	AFNIC	Yes	Yes			Template:Dts
.pn	Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom)	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		Template:Dts
.pr	Puerto Rico (United States)	Puerto Rico				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ps	Template:Country data Palestine	Palestine				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.pt	Portugal	Portugal			Portuguese	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.pw	Palau	Pelew (archaic English spelling)			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.py	Paraguay	Paraguay				No	No		Template:Dts
.qa	Qatar	Qatar				No	No		Template:Dts
.re	Réunion (France)	Réunion	Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua	AFNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ro	Romania	Romania			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.rs	Serbia	Republic of Serbia	See also .срб (.srb in Cyrillic). Also unofficially used for Rust (programming language)-related domains.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts (in root zone) 10 March 2008 (registrations)
.ru	Russia	Russia	See also .su, still in use, and .рф, for IDN.		No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.rw	Rwanda	Rwanda		RICTA		No	Yes		Template:Dts
.sa	Saudi Arabia	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.		Arabic	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.sb	Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands, British				Yes	No		Template:Dts
.sc	Seychelles	Seychelles	Also unofficially used for Snapchat-related domains.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.sd	Sudan	Sudan				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.se	Sweden	Sverige (Swedish)		The Swedish Internet Foundation	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.sg	Singapore	Singapore	Also unofficially used in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.sh	Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)	Saint Helena	Also unofficially used by Canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland	NIC.SH (run by Internet Computer Bureau)	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.si	Slovenia	Slovenia			YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.sk	Slovakia	Slovensko (Slovak)	Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua			Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.sl	Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.sm	San Marino	San Marino	Domain name must be same as company name or trademark.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.sn	Senegal	Senegal	Registration allowed for companies only. Individuals are not allowed to register.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.so	Somalia	Somalia	Relaunched on 1 November 2010.	SONIC	No	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.sr	Suriname	Suriname				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.ss	South Sudan	South Sudan		SSNIC		Yes			Template:Dts (allocated) 2 February 2019 (root zone)
.st	São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé	Also unofficially used in South Tyrol (or province of Bozen, see .bz) and Styria.		Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.su	Soviet Union	Soviet Union	Still in use. Also unofficially used by Student Unions.		YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.sv	El Salvador	Salvador				No	No		Template:Dts
.sx	Sint Maarten (Kingdom of the Netherlands)	.sm, .ma, and .mt already allocated; airport code is SXM.		CIRA		Yes	No		Template:Dts
.sy	Syria	Syria				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.sz	Eswatini	Swaziland	Registration is restricted to Eswatini organizations with Eswatini Trading Licenses.			No	No		Template:Dts
.tc	Turks and Caicos Islands (United Kingdom)	Turks and Caicos	Also marketed in Turkey. The official abbreviation of 'Türkiye Cumhuriyeti' (Republic of Turkey) is TC.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.td	Chad	Tchad (French)	Available for registration to entities connected with Chad only.			No	Yes		Template:Dts
.tf	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (French)	Seldom used. Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua	AFNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.tg	Togo	Togo				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.th	Thailand	Thai		THNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.tj	Tajikistan	Tajik				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.tk	Tokelau	Tokelau	Was previously used as a free domain service to the public.	Dot TK	Yes	No	Yes		Template:Dts
.tl	Template:Country data East Timor	Timor-Leste	Previous code .tp has been deactivated since 2015.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.tm	Turkmenistan	Turkmen			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.tn	Tunisia	Tunisia			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.to	Tonga	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	Yes	Template:Dts
.tr	Turkey	Turkey	.ct.tr and .nc.tr used by Northern Cyprus.		YesTemplate:Efn-ua	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Template:Dts
.tt	Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidad and Tobago				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.tv	Tuvalu	Tuvalu	Used as an abbreviation of television, the domain is operated by GoDaddy; with sponsorship of the Tuvalu government.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.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".		YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.tz	Tanzania	Tanzania	TLD registrations allowed as of July 2022, no local presence in Tanzania required.	TCRA		Yes	No		Template:Dts
.ua	Ukraine	Ukraine	Registrations in TLD are restricted to trademark holders only; SLD registrations are open	Hostmaster Ltd.	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	YesTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.ug	Uganda	Uganda		Uganda Online Ltd.		Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.uk	United Kingdom	United Kingdom	The ISO 3166-1 code for the United Kingdom is .gb (for Great Britain). .uk is an exceptionally reserved ISO 3166-1 code. However, the creation of the .uk TLD predates the ISO 3166-1 list of ccTLDs and is the primary TLD for the United Kingdom.	Nominet UK		Yes	Yes	Yes	Template:Dts
.us	United States of America	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		Template:Dts
.uy	Uruguay	Uruguay	2LD rollout began on 10 July 2012.			Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.uz	Uzbekistan	Uzbekistan		Uzinfocom		Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.va	Vatican City	Vatican	Limited to the official sites of the Holy See (including those of the Vatican City State).			No	No		Template:Dts (root zone)
.vc	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Vincent				PartialTemplate:Efn-ua	Yes		Template:Dts
.ve	Venezuela	Venezuela	Registration is at the third level.			Yes	No		Template:Dts
.vg	British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)	Virgin Islands				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.vi	United States Virgin Islands (United States)	Virgin Islands				No	Yes		Template:Dts
.vn	Vietnam	Viet Nam (Vietnamese)			Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.vu	Vanuatu	Vanuatu				Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.wf	Wallis and Futuna	Wallis and Futuna	Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua	AFNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ws	Samoa	Western Samoa	Marketed for use in general websites.		Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.ye	Yemen	Yemen				No	No		Template:Dts
.yt	Mayotte	Mayotte	Restricted to individuals and companies in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.Template:Efn-ua Also unofficially used for YouTube-related domains.	AFNIC	Yes	Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.za	South Africa	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		Yes	Yes		Template:Dts
.zm	Zambia	Zambia				No	YesTemplate:Efn-ua		Template:Dts
.zw	Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe				No	No		Template:Dts

Table Notes

Internationalized ccTLDs

Internationalized country code top-level domains

DNS name	IDN ccTLD	Country/Region	Language	Script	Transliteration	Comments	Other ccTLD	DNSSEC
xn--lgbbat1ad8j	.الجزائر	Algeria	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	al-Jazā'ir		.dz	No
xn--y9a3aq	.հայ	Armenia	Armenian	Armenian	hay		.am	Yes
xn--mgbcpq6gpa1a	.البحرين	Bahrain	Arabic	Arabic	al-Baḥrain	Not in use	.bh	Yes
xn--54b7fta0cc	.বাংলা	Bangladesh	Bengali	Bengali	Bangla		.bd	No
xn--90ais	.бел	Belarus	Belarusian	Cyrillic	bel		.by	Yes
xn--90ae	.бг	Bulgaria	Bulgarian	Cyrillic	bg		.bg	Yes
xn--fiqs8s	.中国	China	Chinese	Chinese (Simplified)	Zhōngguó		.cn	Yes
xn--fiqz9s	.中國	China	Chinese	Chinese (Traditional)	Zhōngguó		.cn	Yes
xn--wgbh1c	.مصر	Egypt	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Miṣr / Maṣr		.eg	Yes
xn--e1a4c	.ею	European Union	Bulgarian	Cyrillic	eyu		.eu	Yes
xn--qxa6a	.ευ	European Union	Greek	Greek	ey	In use since 2022	.eu	Yes
xn--node	.გე	Template:Country data Georgia	Georgian	Georgian (Mkhedruli)	GE		.ge	No
xn--qxam		Greece	Greek	Greek	el	In use since July 2018	.gr	Yes
xn--j6w193g	.香港	Hong Kong	Chinese	Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)	Hoeng1 gong2 / Xiānggǎng		.hk	Yes
xn--h2brj9c	.भारत	India	Hindi	Devanagari	Bhārat	Became available 27 August 2014	.in	Yes
xn--mgbbh1a71e	.بھارت	India	Urdu	Arabic (Urdu)	Bhārat	Became available 2017	.in	Yes
xn--fpcrj9c3d	.భారత్	India	Telugu	Telugu	Bhārat	Became available 2017	.in	Yes
xn--gecrj9c	.ભારત	India	Gujarati	Gujarati	Bhārat	Became available 2017	.in	Yes
xn--s9brj9c	.ਭਾਰਤ	India	Punjabi	Gurmukhī	Bhārat	Became available 2017	.in	Yes
xn--xkc2dl3a5ee0h	.இந்தியா	India	Tamil	Tamil	Intiyā	Became available 2015	.in	Yes
xn--45brj9c	.ভারত	India	Bengali	Bengali	Bharôt	Became available 2017	.in	Yes
xn--2scrj9c	.ಭಾರತ	India	Kannada	Kannada	Bhārata	Became available 2020	.in	Yes
xn--rvc1e0am3e	.ഭാരതം	India	Malayalam	Malayalam	Bhāratam	Became available 2020	.in	Yes
xn--45br5cyl	.ভাৰত	India	Assamese	Bengali	Bharatam	Became available 2022	.in	Yes
xn--3hcrj9c	.ଭାରତ	India	Oriya	Oriya	Bhārat	Became available 2021	.in	Yes
xn--mgbbh1a	.بارت	India	Kashmiri	Arabic (Kashmiri)	Bārat	Became available 2022	.in	Yes
xn--h2breg3eve	.भारतम्	India	Sanskrit	Devanagari	Bhāratam	Became available 2022	.in	Yes
xn--h2brj9c8c	.भारोत	India	Santali	Devanagari	Bharot	Became available 2022	.in	Yes
xn--mgbgu82a	.ڀارت	India	Sindhi	Arabic (Sindhi)	Bhārat	Became available 2022	.in	Yes
xn--mgba3a4f16a	.ایران	Iran	Persian	Arabic (Persian)	Īrān		.ir	No
xn--mgbtx2b	.عراق	Iraq	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	ʿIrāq	Not in use	.iq	No
xn--4dbrk0ce	.ישראל	Israel	Hebrew	Hebrew	Israel	Became available 2022	.il	Yes
xn--mgbayh7gpa	.الاردن	Jordan	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	al-Urdun		.jo	No
xn--80ao21a	.қаз	Kazakhstan	Kazakh	Cyrillic (Kazakh)	qaz		.kz	No
xn--q7ce6a	.ລາວ	Laos	Lao	Lao	Lao	Became available 2020	.la	Yes
xn--mgbb7fyab	.ليبيا	Libya	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)		Not delegated	.ly	No
xn--mix082f	.澳门	Macao	Chinese	Chinese (Simplified)	Ou3 mun4 / Àomén	Not in use	.mo	No
xn--mix891f	.澳門	Macao	Chinese	Chinese (Traditional)	Ou3 mun4 / Àomén	Became available 2020	.mo	No
xn--mgbx4cd0ab	.مليسيا	Malaysia	Malay	Arabic (Jawi)	Malaysīyā		.my	Yes
xn--mgbah1a3hjkrd	.موريتانيا	Mauritania	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Mūrītāniyā		.mr	Yes
xn--l1acc	.мон	Mongolia	Mongolian	Cyrillic (Mongolian)	mon		.mn	Yes
xn--mgbc0a9azcg	.المغرب	Morocco	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	al-Maġrib		.ma	No
xn--d1alf	.мкд	Template:Country data North Macedonia	Macedonian	Cyrillic (Macedonian)	mkd		.mk	No
xn--mgb9awbf	.عمان	Oman	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	ʿUmān		.om	No
xn--mgbai9azgqp6j	.پاکستان	Pakistan	Urdu	Arabic (Urdu)	Pākistān		.pk	Yes
xn--ygbi2ammx	.فلسطين	Template:Country data Palestinian Authority	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Filasṭīn		.ps	No
xn--wgbl6a	.قطر	Qatar	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Qaṭar		.qa	No
xn--p1ai	.рф	Russia	Russian	Cyrillic (Russian)	rf		.ru	Yes
xn--mgberp4a5d4ar	.السعودية	Saudi Arabia	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	as-Suʿūdīya		.sa	Yes
xn--90a3ac	.срб	Serbia	Serbian	Cyrillic (Serbian)	srb		.rs	Yes
xn--yfro4i67o	.新加坡	Singapore	Chinese	Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)	Xīnjiāpō		.sg	Yes
xn--clchc0ea0b2g2a9gcd	.சிங்கப்பூர்	Singapore	Tamil	Tamil	Cinkappūr		.sg	Yes
xn--3e0b707e	.한국	South Korea	Korean	Hangul	Hanguk		.kr	Yes
xn--fzc2c9e2c	.ලංකා	Sri Lanka	Sinhala	Sinhala	Lanka		.lk	No
xn--xkc2al3hye2a	.இலங்கை	Sri Lanka	Tamil	Tamil	Ilaṅkai		.lk	No
xn--mgbpl2fh	.سودان	Sudan	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Sūdān		.sd	No
xn--ogbpf8fl	.سورية	Syria	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Sūriyya		.sy	No
xn--kprw13d	.台湾	Taiwan	Chinese	Chinese (Simplified)	Táiwān		.tw	Yes
xn--kpry57d	.台灣	Taiwan	Chinese	Chinese (Traditional)	Táiwān		.tw	Yes
xn--o3cw4h	.ไทย	Thailand	Thai	Thai	Thai		.th	Yes
xn--pgbs0dh	.تونس	Tunisia	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Tūnis		.tn	Yes
xn--j1amh	.укр	Ukraine	Ukrainian	Cyrillic (Ukrainian)	ukr		.ua	No
xn--mgbaam7a8h	.امارات	United Arab Emirates	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	Imārāt		.ae	No
xn--mgb2ddes	.اليمن	Yemen	Arabic	Arabic (Arabic)	al-Yaman	Not delegated	.ye	No

Proposed internationalized ccTLDs

Internationalised domain names have been proposed for Japan and Libya.

Relation to ISO 3166-1

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.

— Template:Comma separated entries

Unused ISO 3166-1 codes

Almost all 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)—stillTemplate:Dated maintenance category (articles) 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 (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

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 (Great Britain). However, the JANET 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 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 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) and je (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 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 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), 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 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

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 (.) and Korean script (.), 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, 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 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.

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 hacks:

Unconventional usage

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.

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.

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.

See also

• 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