What is an IDN Domain?
An IDN (Internationalised Domain Name) is a web address written in a non-Latin script such as Devanagari, Tamil or Bengali. Browsers convert it to an ASCII punycode form beginning with xn-- before DNS looks it up. India's Devanagari ccTLD .भारत, run by NIXI, has been delegated since February 2011.
For Indian businesses considering a Hindi or regional-script web address, and how it behaves for DNS, email, SSL and search.
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- 14 Nov 2026
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- WebJi® team
Last editorial update: 14 November 2026.
What is an IDN domain?
An IDN (Internationalised Domain Name) is a domain with at least one label written in a non-Latin script — Devanagari, Tamil, Bengali, Arabic, Cyrillic — or in Latin letters with accents, which software converts to an ASCII form beginning with xn-- before DNS looks it up. DNS itself only accepts ASCII letters, digits and hyphens, so the conversion is what lets a Hindi address work.
- U-label: the Unicode form you type and see, such as भारत.
- A-label: the ASCII form stored in DNS, such as
xn--h2brj9c. - IDNA2008: the protocol (RFC 5890–5893) that decides which characters are valid and how the two forms convert.
For an Indian business, an IDN matters when customers think in Hindi, Tamil or Bengali but every address they have seen is in English. Once converted, registration, renewal, DNS and hosting work like any other domain. The label structure the script sits inside is explained in what is a TLD.
How does punycode turn a script name into ASCII?
Punycode (RFC 3492) is the encoding that rewrites a Unicode label as ASCII; the browser normalises the label, encodes it and adds the xn-- prefix, and that string is the only form that travels in DNS queries.
| Unicode (U-label) | Stored in DNS (A-label) | Script |
|---|---|---|
| .भारत | xn--h2brj9c | Devanagari |
| .рф | xn--p1ai | Cyrillic (Russia) |
| bücher.example | xn--bcher-kva.example | Latin with umlaut |
Applications without IDNA support still reach the site if given the ASCII form, but they display the xn-- string instead of your script. SSL certificates, DNS zone files and many server logs also show the A-label.
What is the .भारत domain?
.भारत (A-label xn--h2brj9c) is India's Devanagari-script country-code TLD, managed by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and delegated in the root zone on 6 February 2011, according to IANA. It was one of seven Indian-script ccTLDs delegated together that year, alongside Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu versions.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Country-code TLD (IDN), country code IN |
| Script | Devanagari |
| Manager | National Internet Exchange of India, New Delhi |
| Delegated | 6 February 2011 |
| DNSSEC | Signed (secure delegation) |
| WHOIS server | whois.nixiregistry.in |
A Devanagari address reads naturally for a Hindi-first audience on signage, ads and packaging. Test it first: some legacy tools still show the xn-- form, and older email or CMS fields can reject internationalised input.
How do you register an IDN domain?
Registering an IDN differs from a Latin name in one step: you type the name in your script and confirm the punycode A-label the registrar generates, because that is the form WHOIS, DNS and certificates will carry.
- Pick a TLD that accepts your script; each registry approves characters through its published language table.
- Type the name in your script at the registrar and check both the Unicode and
xn--forms shown. - Complete registration as for any domain; .in-family names follow NIXI's registrant rules.
- Point DNS and hosting as you would for a Latin name. In zone files, use the A-label.
- Test email, forms and any older tools with the name before printing it anywhere.
Supported scripts and the current quote are on WebJi®'s IDN domain registration page.
Are IDN domains good for SEO?
Search engines index IDN sites normally, and the script is not a ranking factor in itself; what matters is using one consistent form of the name in canonical tags, sitemaps and redirects.
Where the script helps is recognition: a Devanagari address in a Hindi search result reads as local rather than translated. Most Indian businesses keep the Latin name as the primary brand and register the .भारत or Devanagari variant to protect it or redirect it. Hindi-language pages, whatever the domain, still need lang="hi" and hreflang where an English version exists; see multilingual WordPress in Hindi.
What is an IDN homograph attack?
A homograph attack registers a look-alike domain using characters from another script that render identically — Cyrillic а, е, о and р look like Latin a, e, o and p — to imitate a trusted site.
- Registries limit each zone to approved language tables, which blocks most mixed-script labels.
- Browsers show the
xn--form instead of Unicode when a label mixes scripts suspiciously. - Emoji are not valid under IDNA2008, so emoji domains are unavailable in ICANN-governed zones.
- Brand owners can register obvious look-alikes defensively; see how to protect a domain name.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use an IDN domain for email?
Partly. Modern mail systems support internationalised addresses (SMTPUTF8), but many older servers and forms still reject them. A practical approach is to send mail from a Latin-script domain and use the IDN for the website and print.
Do I need a separate SSL certificate for an IDN?
You need a certificate that covers the IDN's A-label, such as xn--h2brj9c names. Let's Encrypt and commercial CAs issue certificates for punycode names in the same way as for Latin domains.
Can a .भारत domain redirect to my .in website?
Yes. Point the IDN's DNS at hosting and add a 301 redirect to the main domain, so Hindi-speaking visitors can type the Devanagari name and land on your existing site. Keep one canonical version to avoid duplicate pages.
Which Indian languages have their own ccTLD?
The first seven, delegated in 2011, cover Devanagari (.भारत), Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Check the IANA root zone database or the .IN Registry for the current full list before registering.
Registry facts checked against IANA on 14 November 2026 · Reviewed by the WebJi® team, Jaipur.
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