An internationalized domain name (IDN) is a web address written in a script other than basic English letters: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese or accented Latin. For Indian businesses, the best-known example is the .भारत extension, which lets your whole address be in an Indian language. This guide explains how IDNs work, where they still cause trouble, and how to register and set one up properly.
An IDN is stored in the DNS as Punycode, an ASCII form that starts with xn--: डोमेन.भारत becomes xn--e2bor4hsa.xn--h2brj9c. Browsers show the native script, while servers, SSL certificates and many control panels work with the Punycode form. IDNs suit websites aimed at readers of one language, but email on IDNs is still unreliable, so most owners pair an IDN with an ordinary ASCII domain. Domain India offers Indian-language .भारत domains on its Bharat Domains page.
1. What an IDN is
Classic domain names may only use the letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen. An IDN allows characters from almost any script defined in Unicode. There are two places a script can appear:
- In the name: for example
münchen.de, where the TLD is ordinary but the name has an accented letter. - In the extension too: country-code IDN extensions such as .भारत (India, in Devanagari), .рф (Russia) and .中国 (China) let the whole address be in one script.
India's .भारत family is run by NIXI, the registry that also runs .in, and covers several Indian scripts, for example .ভারত in Bengali and .இந்தியா in Tamil.
2. How IDNs work: Unicode and Punycode
The DNS itself still only understands ASCII. So every IDN has two forms:
| What you see (Unicode) | What the DNS stores (Punycode) |
|---|---|
| भारत | xn--h2brj9c |
| डोमेन.भारत | xn--e2bor4hsa.xn--h2brj9c |
| இந்தியா | xn--xkc2dl3a5ee0h |
| münchen.de | xn--mnchen-3ya.de |
The conversion follows the IDNA standard (IDNA2008 and the Unicode UTS 46 processing rules browsers use). Your browser converts a Unicode address to Punycode before it looks it up, and converts it back for display. The xn-- prefix marks a label as Punycode.
To convert a name yourself, most programming languages have a library for it; in Python, for example:
>>> 'डोमेन.भारत'.encode('idna')
b'xn--e2bor4hsa.xn--h2brj9c'Python's built-in idna codec follows the older IDNA2003 rules; for new code, the idna package on PyPI implements IDNA2008.
3. Benefits and honest limitations
- An address your audience can read and remember in its own language
- A local, recognisable brand for regional businesses, schools and media
- Often easier to get a short, meaningful name than in crowded .com or .in
- Typing it needs a keyboard or input method for that script
- Email addresses on IDNs are not reliably delivered by every mail system
- Some older software, forms and apps reject or mangle non-ASCII addresses
- Links shared in plain text may appear in Punycode or percent-encoded form
There is no special search-ranking bonus for an IDN. Search engines index IDN sites like any other; what helps is content written in the same language as the address. Claims that IDNs raise click-through rates are not established.
4. Choosing and registering an IDN
- Pick the script and extension.For an Indian-language audience, choose the .भारत extension in the script your readers use.
- Keep the name in one script.Registries generally require the name and the extension to use the same script, and mixing scripts looks suspicious to browsers (see section 6).
- Check spelling carefully.Different spellings of the same word, or characters with and without vowel signs, can be different domains. Decide which forms you need.
- Search and register.Type the name in its own script in the registrar's search; the checkout shows whether it is available.
- Consider a matching ASCII domain.A .in or .com with a transliterated name is useful for email, printed material and people who can't type the script.
5. Setting up hosting, SSL and email
- DNS and hosting: point the domain with nameservers or an A record, exactly as for any domain; see how to change your nameservers. If a control panel or DNS editor refuses the Unicode form, enter the Punycode (
xn--) form instead. - SSL certificates: certificates are issued for the Punycode form. Free certificates such as Let's Encrypt work with IDNs; the browser still displays the Unicode address.
- Email: email addresses in non-ASCII scripts (Email Address Internationalisation, using the SMTPUTF8 extension) are supported by some large providers but not by all mail servers and apps. Use an ASCII domain for business email, and let the IDN point to your website.
- Applications: test forms, payment gateways and analytics with the IDN. Some software stores or validates only ASCII addresses.
6. Security: homograph attacks
Some characters in different scripts look identical. The Cyrillic "а" and the Latin "a" are different characters, so аррӏе.com written in Cyrillic (xn--80ak6aa92e.com) can look like a famous brand. Attackers use such lookalike domains for phishing.
Modern browsers defend against this: when a name mixes scripts or looks confusable with a well-known domain, they show the Punycode form instead of the Unicode one. To protect your own brand:
- register the obvious ASCII and IDN versions of your name;
- watch for lookalike registrations of your brand;
- tell customers which exact address you use, and use HTTPS everywhere.
Note that DNSSEC and SSL certificates don't prevent homograph attacks: a lookalike domain can have both. They protect lookups and connections, not the choice of name.
7. IDNs at Domain India
Domain India is a NIXI-accredited .IN registrar. Our Bharat Domains page lists the Indian-language extensions we offer, including .भारत in Devanagari, at ₹599 a year (Domain India price on 23 September 2026, as shown on that page). For a matching ASCII address, a .in domain costs ₹575 for the first year and ₹625 to renew, and .co.in costs ₹475 and ₹525 (Domain India list prices on 19 September 2026, excluding 18% GST). For .in and its second-level extensions, personal registrant details are not shown in public WHOIS; this is free and automatic.
For a website in an Indian language, any of our shared hosting plans can host an IDN just like any other domain. Prices on the card are live and exclude 18% GST.
- 25 GB NVMe SSD Storage
- 50 GB Monthly Bandwidth
- 1 Website
- 10 Email Accounts
What is an internationalized domain name?
An IDN is a domain name that uses characters outside the basic English letters, digits and hyphen, such as Hindi, Tamil, Arabic or accented Latin letters. For example, डोमेन.भारत is an IDN under India's .भारत extension.
What is Punycode?
Punycode is the ASCII encoding the DNS uses to store an IDN. Each non-ASCII label is converted to a string starting with xn--, so भारत becomes xn--h2brj9c. Browsers convert between the two forms automatically.
Can I use an IDN for email?
Only with care. Non-ASCII email addresses need every mail server and app along the way to support them, and many don't. Use an ordinary ASCII domain for business email and point the IDN to your website.
Do IDNs help with SEO?
Not directly. Search engines index IDN sites like any other site, and there is no ranking bonus for the script. Content in the same language as the address is what helps readers and rankings.
Why does my browser show xn-- instead of my IDN?
Browsers show the Punycode form when a name mixes scripts or looks confusable with another domain, to protect against phishing. Keep the whole name in one script to avoid this.
Where can I register a .भारत domain?
Domain India is a NIXI-accredited .IN registrar and offers Indian-language .भारत domains at ₹599 a year on its Bharat Domains page at domainindia.com/domains/bharat.
Do SSL certificates work with IDNs?
Yes. Certificates are issued for the Punycode form of the name, and free certificates such as Let's Encrypt support IDNs. The browser still displays the Unicode address.
Ready to claim your name in your own language? Search on our Bharat Domains page, register a matching address through domain registration, or read the ultimate guide to domain name registration.
Register an Indian-language domain with a NIXI-accredited .IN registrar.
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