.files
Is .files a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.files is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Intercap.
A descriptive address for file-sharing and storage tools; useful for utility links, unlikely to become a serious brand's main name.
file-sharing, cloud-storage and document-transfer services, plus developers wanting a short utility address for downloads, assets or shared folders
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: a short, plural, generic noun naming a class of digital artifact, whose value depends on a cloud productivity or file-hosting operator owning the namespace and making every address read as 'the thing itself' rather than a brand.
Also a plural generic noun for a digital object class with no industry or profession behind it, bought by whoever hosts those objects and bets users will accept an object-type namespace in place of a brand domain.
Overlapping buyer (a cloud-storage or keep-your-stuff service) but a different kind of word: a service/industry category describing what you do with files, so its registrants are businesses in a trade rather than holders of an object class.
What a .files domain is
.files is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .files domain extension real yet?
.files 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 .files domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .files name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .files was .docs, delegated on 18 December 2014.
Is .files a real TLD?
Not yet. .files is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .files is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Intercap · first recordedICANN
“EDI2665T-T28371 · Endpoint Domains, Inc. · primary IRI2679T-T96997 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .wiz · Deactivated NA2626T-T63059 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .ask · Deactivated XL2625T-T48604 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .con · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a plain English plural noun with an obvious meaning, so registrations at modest volume are plausible from file-transfer services, storage products and developers who want a descriptive address for downloads or shared assets. It is not in the 50-69 band because serious storage and sharing companies have, by analogy, overwhelmingly built their primary identity on .com or short tech TLDs, and a '.files' name reads as a feature or endpoint rather than a brand; sustained primary-identity demand is unlikely to materialise within 5 years. It is not in the 10-29 band because the meaning is universal, non-joking and directly tied to a large product category, which gives it recurring utility use (asset hosts, download portals, sub-brand addresses) rather than purely event-driven demand. By analogy, descriptive utility strings such as .download and .cloud have shown that volume can be driven by promotional pricing while aftermarket value stays thin and a meaningful share of use is secondary or defensive; that is flagged as analogy, not fact. Applicant facts on the record: Intercap Registry Inc. holds the one confirmed application, with .folder recorded as its replacement string, which suggests a single operator with a clear category intent; this informs adoption likelihood only. Main market uncertainty: whether any well-known storage or transfer product adopts a .files address as its main identity, which would shift perception from utility-endpoint to brand-grade.