.br is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center. A local contact is required for any registration. Registrations of domain names with Portuguese characters are also accepted.
With the exception of universities, the second-level domain is fixed and selected from a list that defines the category. For example, is in the art (music, folklore etc.) category, and is in the non-governmental organization category. Institutions of tertiary education were allowed to use the ccSLD , although some use and others (mainly public universities) use . There are also some other few exceptions that were allowed to use the second level domain until the end of 2000. As of April 2010, most domain registrations ignore categories and register in the domain, which has over 90% of all registered domains. The (Judiciary), and (banks) domains have mandatory DNSSEC use.
History Created and delegated to Brazil in 1989IANA - Informações sobre a delegação do .br by Jon Postel,NIC.br - CGI.br comemora os 20 anos do ".br" initially the domain was operated manually by Registro.br and administered by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Originally, only researchers and institutions to which they belonged had the interest and ability to adopt the new system and register domains under .br.
At the time, networks prevalent in the Brazilian academic setting were the BITNET ("Because It's Time NETwork"), the HEPnet ("High Energy Physics Network") and the UUCP ("Unix-to-Unix Copy Program"). As such, even before Brazil officially connected to the Internet in 1991, the .br domain was used to identify the machines participating in networks already in use by academics.
In 1995 the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (, or simply CGI.br) was created with an objective to coordinate the allocation of Internet addresses (IPs) and the registration of .br domain names. There were 851 domains registered with the Brazilian DNS by the beginning of 1996, thereafter experiencing rapid growth with the mass arrival of companies, Internet providers and media onto the Internet. The registration system was automated in 1997 and was developed using open source software.
In 2005, CGI.br created its own executive arm, the Brazilian Network Information Center (, or simply NIC.br), which currently serves in both administrative and operational capacity for the registry.
In 2017, accounts associated with DNS records of Brazilian banks were hacked. Kaspersky's researchers pointed out to a vulnerability in NIC.br's website and suggested its infrastructure had been compromised. NIC's director at the time, Frederico Neves, denied that NIC.br was "hacked", although NIC.br admitted the vulnerability.
Domain registry To register any domains under .br, it is necessary to enter into contact with Registro.br. Entities legally established in Brazil as a company ("pessoa jurídica") or a physical person ("profissional liberal" and "pessoas físicas") that has a contact within Brazil can register domains. Foreign companies that have a power-of-attorney legally established in Brazil can also do it by following specific rules.
The registration of domains including non-ASCII Portuguese characters (à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü and ç) is accepted since 2005.Registro.br - Tips and Rules
Syntactic rules for .br domains Minimum of 2 and maximum of 26 characters, not including the category. For example, in the field XXXX.COM.BR, this limitation relates to the XXXX. Valid characters are [A-Z, 0-9], the hyphen, and the following accented characters: à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü, ç. Domains cannot contain only numbers. To maintain the integrity of the registry, Registro.br sets up an equivalence mapping to compare domain names with and without accented characters. The mapping is done by converting accented characters and the cedilla for their non-accented versions and "c", respectively, and discards hyphens. A new domain will only be allowed to be registered when there is no equivalent to a pre-existing domain, or when the applicant is the same entity that owns the domain equivalent.
Specifically for the domain .NOM.BR, it is necessary to choose two names, i.e.: NAME1.NAME2.NOM.BR.
Second-level domains Direct registration In 1991, it was decided that universities and research institutes would be allowed second-level .br domains directly. For example: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro got ufrj.br; University of São Paulo got usp.br; National Institute for Space Research got inpe.br; and so on.
In late 2000, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee reported abuse in this system, and called for all institutions directly under .br to be moved to .edu.br – so, for example, ufrj.br would become ufrj.edu.br. During a meeting in early 2001, however, the Committee decided it would be of public interest to not move every second-level domain as to avoid confusion, but instead established rules regarding their registration:
No longer accepting automatic registration of second-level domains, and evaluating every request for one individually; Creating edu.br, and forwarding requests from education and research institutions to it; Concession to education and research institutes that already had a second-level .br domain, as long as its usage is appropriate and that domain name is related to the institution's name or acronym. Domains approved are automatically duplicated under edu.br as well, and both may exist concurrently – for example, the still existing ufrj.br also has a registered ufrj.edu.br, although the latter is not used; Other institutions not approved above must be migrated permanently to edu.br (but would be given sufficient time for the transition).
As of September 2024, Registro.br reports 1207 domains registered directly under .br.
Predefined domains As of August 2025, there are 147 different second-level domains of .br under which custom domains can be registered, and they are divided into eleven categories: "Generic", "Business", "Culture", "Education", "Personals", "Entertainment", "Public Authority", "Locations", "Professions", "Technology" and "Third Sector". They are the following:
"Generic" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use COM.br Commercial activities NET.br Commercial activities SOCIAL.br Social networks XYZ.br Miscellaneous WIKI.br Wiki-like pages ETC.br Companies that do not fit into other categories
"Culture" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use ART.br Arts: music, painting, folklore REC.br Recreational activities, games TV.br Broadcasting companies or "transmission of sounds and images via the Internet" AM.br Radio companies FM.br Radio companies RADIO.br "Companies wishing to transmit audio through the network"
"Business" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use ECO.br Eco- or environment focused activities LOG.br Transport and logistics EMP.br Small and micro-enterprises LEILAO.br Auctioneers AGR.br Agriculture- or farm-related companies FAR.br Pharmacies and drugstores IMB.br Real estate agencies IND.br Industries INF.br Media and information (radios, newspapers, libraries, ...) SRV.br Work for hire TMP.br Temporary events, such as fairs and expos TUR.br Tourism-related companies PSI.br Internet service providers B.br Banks
"Education" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use EDU.br Higher education institutions G12.br Primary or secondary schools (K–12 equivalent)
"Personals" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use BLOG.br Web logs NOM.br Natural persons
"Entertainment" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use BET.br Online gambling FLOG.br Photo logs QSL.br Amateur radio operators VLOG.br Video logs ESP.br Sport in general
"Public Authority" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use GOV.br Federal government institutions MIL.br Brazilian Armed Forces DEF.br Public defenders JUS.br Judiciary institutions LEG.br Legislative institutions MP.br Public Ministry institutions TC.br Tribunal de Contas da União
"Locations" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use 9GUACU.br Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro ABC.br ABC Region, São Paulo AJU.br Aracaju, Sergipe ANANI.br Ananindeua, Pará APARECIDA.br Aparecida, São Paulo BARUERI.br Barueri, São Paulo BELEM.br Belém, Pará BHZ.br Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais BOAVISTA.br Boa Vista, Roraima BSB.br Brasília, Federal District CAMPINAGRANDE.br Campina Grande, Paraíba CAMPINAS.br Campinas, São Paulo CAXIAS.br Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro CONTAGEM.br Contagem, Minas Gerais CUIABA.br Cuiabá, Mato Grosso CURITIBA.br Curitiba, Paraná FEIRA.br Feira de Santana, Bahia FLORIPA.br Florianópolis, Santa Catarina FORTAL.br Fortaleza, Ceará FOZ.br Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná GOIANIA.br Goiânia, Goiás GRU.br Guarulhos, São Paulo JAB.br Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Pernambuco JAMPA.br João Pessoa, Paraíba JDF.br Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais JOINVILLE.br Joinville, Santa Catarina LONDRINA.br Londrina, Paraná MACAPA.br Macapá, Amapá MACEIO.br Maceió, Alagoas MANAUS.br Manaus, Amazonas MARINGA.br Maringá, Paraná MORENA.br Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul NATAL.br Natal, Rio Grande do Norte NITEROI.br Niterói, Rio de Janeiro OSASCO.br Osasco, São Paulo PALMAS.br Palmas, Tocantins POA.br Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul PVH.br Porto Velho, Rondônia RECIFE.br Recife, Pernambuco RIBEIRAO.br Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo RIO.br Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro RIOBRANCO.br Rio Branco, Acre RIOPRETO.br São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo SALVADOR.br Salvador, Bahia SAMPA.br São Paulo, São Paulo SANTAMARIA.br Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul SANTOANDRE.br Santo André, São Paulo SAOBERNARDO.br São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo SAOGONCA.br São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro SJC.br São José dos Campos, São Paulo SLZ.br São Luís, Maranhão SOROCABA.br Sorocaba, São Paulo THE.br Teresina, Piauí UDI.br Uberlândia, Minas Gerais VIX.br Vitória, Espírito Santo
"Professionals" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use ADM.br Administrators ADV.br Lawyers ARQ.br Architecture ATO.br Actors BIB.br Librarians and library scientists BIO.br Biologists BMD.br Biomedical scientists CIM.br Realtors CNG.br Scenographers CNT.br Accountants COZ.br Gastronomists DES.br Designers and illustrators DET.br Detectives and private investigator ECN.br Economists ENF.br Nurses ENG.br Engineers ETI.br IT professionals FND.br Speech–language pathologist FOT.br Photographers FST.br Physical therapistss GEO.br Geologists GGF.br Geography professionals JOR.br Journalists LEL.br Auctioneers MAT.br Mathematicians and statisticians MED.br Medical doctors MUS.br Musicians NOT.br Notaries NTR.br Nutritionists ODO.br Dentists PPG.br Publicists and marketeers PRO.br Teachers and professors PSC.br Psychologists REP.br Commercial representatives SLG.br Sociologists TAXI.br Taxi drivers TEO.br Theologists TRD.br Translators VET.br Veterinarians ZLG.br Zoologists
"Technology" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use API.br Application interfaces APP.br Apps DEV.br Developers and development platforms IA.br Artificial intelligence SEG.br Security TEC.br Technology
"Third Sector" second-level .br domains Domain Intended use COOP.br Cooperatives ONG.br Non-governmental organizations ORG.br Not-for-profit non-governmental organizations
Special second-level domains From 2000 until 2009, during election cycles, electoral candidates could register domains under CAN.br, with the format [name][number].can.br – where the name is the registered candidate name, and the number is the identification number for that candidate in the election (related to the party's identification number). The second-level domain was in a category of its own, called "natural persons, special".
As an example, during the 2004 elections for mayor of Aracaju: