.records
Is .records a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.records is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Identity Digital. XYZ named .records as a backup string for its .chef application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .records as a backup string for its .pot application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A niche word for record labels and archives; usable as a real identity, but most will still pick .com and resale value stays thin.
independent record labels, music collectives, archives and records-management or data firms that want a descriptive address under a plain English noun
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .pot application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .chef application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
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 generic plural noun whose real value is as the tail of a creative company's own trade name (Paramount Pictures, Def Jam Records), carrying the same dual-meaning drag — an everyday consumer word (photographs / data records) competing with the industry-entity reading.
Also a plural generic noun that works only because media and entertainment firms already end their legal names with it, so the buyer is a small company putting its primary identity on a word it is literally called, not a hobbyist or a topical browser.
Another trade-name suffix for a creative-services business, sold to the same narrow music/media supply chain, but singular, broader across design and film, and more often describing a place than naming the entity, so the name-tail fit is looser.
What a .records domain is
.records is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Culture. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .records domain extension real yet?
.records 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 .records domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .records name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .records was .pictures, delegated on 11 April 2014.
Is .records a real TLD?
Not yet. .records is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .records is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“NA2631T-T39802 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .pot · Deactivated RC2677T-T31254 · Rein Check, LLC · primary XL2625T-T58660 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .chef · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a plain English noun with two credible meanings: music (a label named as "name.records" reads naturally as a label identity) and documentation (public records, archives, records management, data records). That gives it genuine primary-identity potential for a small set of buyers, which keeps it out of the 10-29 vanity band. It is not in the 50-69 band because neither meaning has shown sustained demand strong enough to make the TLD a recognised choice: record labels in practice overwhelmingly brand on .com or a social handle, and records offices and archives are typically public-sector bodies that sit under government or institutional namespaces and rarely move identity to a new generic. By analogy (flagged as analogy), descriptive-noun generics in the music and media area, such as .music and .media, have found real but modest use, with adoption concentrated in independents and hobby projects rather than becoming a default, and I would expect .records to land below those because the word is narrower and double-meaning. The verified facts show one confirmed application from Identity Digital, with the two other applications deactivated; a large-portfolio registry with established registrar channels makes general availability and steady low-volume registrations plausible, which supports the middle of this band rather than the bottom. Aftermarket value is likely thin: a few label-style or archive-style phrases may trade, but there is no sign of a broad investor market for the string. Main market uncertainty: whether the independent-music segment adopts "name.records" as a stylistic convention at any scale, which would move this toward the 50-69 band; absent that, it sits as a quiet descriptive generic.