What is .mini?
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 .mini names for sale at any registrar.
.mini entered the DNS root zone on June 24, 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.
Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft also runs one other TLD, including .bmw.
On the technical side, .mini 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 .mini, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over RDAP and WHOIS (the WHOIS server is whois.nic.mini).
Same registry, other endings
1 other TLD shares this operator.
.mini FAQ
What country is .mini?
None. .mini is a generic top-level domain, so it isn't tied to any country.
Who owns the .mini domain extension?
Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft operates .mini as its registry, under a registry agreement with ICANN.
When was .mini created?
.mini was delegated to the DNS root zone on June 24, 2014.
Is .mini a valid domain?
Yes. .mini is an active top-level domain in the DNS root zone, delegated in 2014, so .mini addresses work in every browser.
Can I buy a .mini domain?
No. .mini is a brand TLD under ICANN Specification 13, so names are reserved for Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft.
Is .mini DNSSEC-signed?
Yes, the root zone holds a DS record for .mini.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed November 6, 2023. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
