.audio: A Short Name for Everyone Working in Sound
.audio was delegated to the root zone on 8 May 2014 and its current sponsoring organisation is XYZ.COM LLC. The word crosses language borders easily: in English, Turkish, German and Russian it reads similarly and means the same thing. For a studio or product addressing an international audience, that means the address is understood without translation.
It speaks directly for recording studios, sound design and mixing services, podcast producers, hardware and software brands, and voice artists. Sharing example work sits at the centre of this field, and a short address takes up little room when a demo link travels by email or social post. Try candidates with a domain name search.
.AUDIO Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation XYZ.COM LLC
- Delegated to the root zone 8 May 2014
- Typical use Studios, sound design, podcasts, hardware brands
- Eligibility No published registry restriction could be verified
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .audio domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.audio Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$156.00 /year -
Transfer
$149.49 /year -
Renewal
$164.44 /year -
Restore
$299.90 -
Late Renewal
$32.89
Included With Every .audio Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.audio Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .audio domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .audio address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .audio domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $32.89 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .audio returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.audio Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.audio Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .audio domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.audio Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .audio Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No verifiable eligibility restriction applies. We could not reach a primary source showing that the registry asks for professional credentials, a studio registration or a portfolio, so the extension appears open. An independent voice artist, a corporate hardware brand and a hobby podcast all take names on the same terms. Ownership shows up through a whois search.
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It depends. If the podcast is a single show with a memorable name, the ending after that name describes the content accurately. If you are a production company running several shows, keeping a corporate address and collecting each show under its own page is easier to manage. The rule: does the address represent a brand, or one production?
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For a small archive it is fine, but the maths changes with scale. Audio files are large and every play consumes bandwidth, which on a regularly published podcast becomes the dominant cost. The common answer is to keep files with a distribution service, embed the player and publish only episode pages on the site. A site at that scale runs on shared hosting.
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According to the project's registry data, DNSSEC is supported on this extension. DNSSEC signs DNS answers so that attempts to intercept a lookup and return a forged response become detectable. For a commercial studio or hardware brand, that is an extra layer protecting the brand name against redirection. You enable it through your DNS provider, and the signing records must reach the registry.
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The flow matches other generic extensions: lift the transfer lock, collect the authorisation code, open the request at the gaining registrar and approve the confirmation sent to the administrative address. A restriction can apply in the first 60 days. If your episode links are registered with directories, note the DNS records before transferring so the feed does not break. Steps are on the domain transfer page.
Ready to Claim Your .audio Domain?
Type a name and see in seconds whether it is free on .audio. If it is taken, we list close alternatives right away.
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