.file
Is .file a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.file is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Identity Digital. Link Freedom Group named .file as a backup string for its .tap application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Who is applying, and what they run today
One of the 2 is tied to a registry that runs TLDs today. Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group filed 374 applications between them across the round.
Will names sell?
A clear word for storage and file-sharing tools, but most such products brand elsewhere, so demand stays modest and price-driven.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .file’s closest 2012 strings hold .docs 3, .drive 2 and .data 4.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .docs, held 3 names, June 2026. .drive held 2; .data held 4. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a bare computing-primitive noun for a stored digital object, ownable by any document/file service and otherwise sold as a universal generic — identical buyer logic and identical dependence on the word staying category-neutral rather than becoming one vendor's product name.
Same bet in the storage-container register — a short, everyday noun that a cloud file service would put its primary identity on — but it carries heavy non-computing meaning (vehicles, motivation) that .file does not, diluting the category read.
Same class of abstract infrastructure noun aimed at the same technical buyer, but it sells an industry/discipline identity (data companies, data teams) rather than naming a discrete object a user creates and shares, so the registration motive is corporate positioning more than utility.
file-sharing, cloud-storage, and document-tooling startups wanting a literal product-noun domain hack (send.file, drop.file), plus hobby transfer utilities and self-hosted storage projects.
What a .file domain is
.file is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Infrastructure category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .file domain extension real yet?
.file is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .file domain?
You can’t yet. A .file name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .file was .docs, delegated on 18 December 2014.
Is .file a real TLD?
Not yet. .file is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .file is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T63930 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .tap · Deactivated PB2674T-T67329 · Paws Button, LLC · primary”ICANN
“.file · Infra · “All your info, one place.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a genuinely common English noun with direct semantic fit to a real product category, cloud storage, transfer, and document tooling, and short verb-noun hacks read naturally, which puts it above the vanity/joke band: some serious side projects and small utilities would plausibly use it as a primary identity rather than a redirect. It does not reach the strong-niche band because, by analogy with other product-noun infra strings such as .cloud and .app-adjacent utility TLDs, the companies that most plausibly fit (storage and sharing tools) have historically defaulted to mainstream developer TLDs and .com for trust reasons, and a domain ending in .file may also read to non-experts like a filename rather than a website, which weakens the brand signal in exactly the consumer-facing contexts where file-sharing links get pasted. That confusion risk is an analogy to extension-like strings generally; specific incident data for .file is unknown. Registration volumes, pricing, and any registry commitments are unknown. The applicant context is neutral: LFG filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list before Reveal Day, cataloging .file under Infra with the tagline "All your info, one place."; a large portfolio suggests broad-market positioning rather than a single-category push, which I read as adoption depending on general retail channels over the next 5 years rather than a cultivated developer community. Main market uncertainty: whether link-sharing UX (a .file URL pasted in chat) reads as trustworthy or as a suspicious attachment, since file-transfer links are a common phishing vector and recipient trust drives whether serious products adopt it as primary identity.