What is .youtube?
Brand TLDs operate under Specification 13 of ICANN's registry agreement. It lets a trademark owner keep every second-level name for itself, so you won't find .youtube names for sale at any registrar.
.youtube entered the DNS root zone on August 29, 2014, 12 years ago. It came out of ICANN's New gTLD Program, the 2012 application round that grew the root from 22 generic TLDs to well over a thousand.
Charleston Road Registry Inc. operates a large portfolio of 46 TLDs, including .ads, .android, .app, .boo and .cal.
On the technical side, .youtube is served by 5 authoritative name servers, every one of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .youtube, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over RDAP.
Same registry, other endings
45 other TLDs share this operator.
.youtube FAQ
What country is .youtube?
None. .youtube is a generic top-level domain, so it isn't tied to any country.
Who owns the .youtube domain extension?
Charleston Road Registry Inc. operates .youtube as its registry, under a registry agreement with ICANN.
When was .youtube created?
.youtube was delegated to the DNS root zone on August 29, 2014.
Is .youtube a valid domain?
Yes. .youtube is an active top-level domain in the DNS root zone, delegated in 2014, so .youtube addresses work in every browser.
Can I buy a .youtube domain?
No. .youtube is a brand TLD under ICANN Specification 13, so names are reserved for Charleston Road Registry Inc.
Is .youtube DNSSEC-signed?
Yes, the root zone holds a DS record for .youtube.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed April 11, 2025. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
