Internationalized Domain Name — a domain that contains non-ASCII characters (Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.) instead of the standard a-z, 0-9 alphabet. The domain system was built for English. IDNs are the workaround.
Under the hood, IDNs are converted to ASCII using Punycode — a method that transforms unicode into a string starting with 'xn--' that DNS can actually route. Your browser decodes it back to the original script for display. So мой.рф (Russian) becomes xn--80akhbyknj4f.xn--p1ai at the protocol level.
Why it matters: IDNs unlock domain registration in non-Latin scripts, critical for users in Asia, the Middle East, and Cyrillic regions who shouldn't be forced to type ASCII transliterations. They also complicate trademark enforcement and phishing detection — visually similar glyphs in different scripts can masquerade as established brands.
At bunkerdomains, IDN registration works the same as ASCII domains: crypto payment, no KYC, anonymous by default. Some ccTLDs and new gTLDs support IDNs; others don't. Check your target TLD's IANA listing.