What is .la?
.la has a second life online. Because of what the letters suggest, it's picked up a following for Los Angeles, beyond Laos's borders. Legally it remains Laos's ccTLD.
A little context on Laos: the capital is Vientiane, the main language is Lao, the currency is the Lao kip (LAK) and the international dialing code is +856. It's landlocked.
Laos shares land borders with 5 countries, so the ccTLDs next door are .mm (Myanmar), .kh (Cambodia), .cn (China), .th (Thailand) and .vn (Vietnam).
IANA lists Lao National Internet Center (LANIC), Ministry of Technology and Communications as the manager of .la, with an address in Lao People's Democratic Republic. The registry's website is http://www.la. ccTLD managers set their own policies — who can register, which second-level names exist, pricing to registrars — so those rules differ from country to country.
On the technical side, .la is served by 4 authoritative name servers, every one of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .la, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over WHOIS (the WHOIS server is whois.nic.la).
Laos also has another country-code domain in the root zone: .ລາວ (Lao).
Same registry, other endings
1 other TLD shares this operator.
.la FAQ
What country is .la?
.la is the country-code top-level domain for Laos, in South-Eastern Asia. Online it's also used for Los Angeles.
What does .la mean?
Officially, .la is simply the ISO 3166-1 code for Laos. Online, it's also used for Los Angeles — a "domain hack" that uses the letters for what they spell.
What does .la mean in an email address?
Only that the sender's domain is registered under .la. Because .la is also used for Los Angeles, it doesn't necessarily mean the person is in Laos.
Who owns the .la domain?
IANA lists Lao National Internet Center (LANIC), Ministry of Technology and Communications as the manager of .la: it runs the registry and sets the rules for Laos's ccTLD. Individual .la names belong to whoever registers them.
Can I register a .la domain from the US?
It depends on Lao National Internet Center (LANIC), Ministry of Technology and Communications's policy. Some ccTLDs are open to anyone in the world, while others require a local address, company or trademark. Check the registry (http://www.la) or an accredited registrar before you buy.
Is .la DNSSEC-signed?
Yes. The root zone has a DS record for .la, so DNSSEC validation works all the way down from the root.
How do I look up who owns a .la domain?
Query the registry's registration data service: the WHOIS server is whois.nic.la. Many registrants use privacy services, so personal details may be hidden.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed August 21, 2025. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
