The top-level domain (TLD) you are referring to, XN—MGBC0A9AZCG, is the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) representation of the Arabic “الجزائر.” or “.algeria” in English. This was established under the initiative by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to internationalize domain names that can be taken in scripts other than Latin (ASCII characters, a-z, 0-9).
Traditionally, all internet addresses were registered solely in English and completely in ASCII characters. However, with the increasing globalization and expansion of the internet, it became clear that allowing the use of domain names in non-Latin scripts would have substantial benefits. As a solution to this, ICANN introduced Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), which enable internet users worldwide to navigate and communicate online in their native languages.
IDNs are domain names that are represented by user applications in the native language characters. These domain names could consist of characters with diacritical marks as required by many European languages, or could consist of non-Latin script characters from languages such as Arabic, Greek, Chinese, and many others. They use the ASCII-compatible encoding, known as Punycode, to represent these characters within the ASCII character set used in the Domain Name System (DNS). In the Punycode format, the “XN—” prefix is attached in front of the ASCII representation. Therefore, “XN—MGBC0A9AZCG” is the Punycode representation of “الجزائر.”
This allowed a lot of internet users to use the internet more comfortably without having to deal with the Latin script. For instance, it’s now possible to register a .الجزائر domain, where the name of the site is also in Arabic which is significant for businesses and organizations in Algeria targeting local audiences who are comfortable with Arabic.
In summary, “XN—MGBC0A9AZCG” is the Punycode representation of the Arabic TLD “الجزائر.,” which corresponds to “.algeria” in English. This step of localizing TLDs has allowed more users globally to enjoy the internet in their preferred languages, contributing to the ongoing development of a truly global internet.
Sources:
- ICANN. (n.d.). Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/idn-2012-02-25-en
- Mozilla Developer. (n.d.). Punycode. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Punycode
- IDN World Report. (n.d.). Arabic. https://idnworldreport.eu/charts-data/arabic/
