A URL does not get translated into a single permanent IP address. DNS looks up the URL’s host name—such as www.example.com—and can return one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. The path, query, and fragment are not part of that DNS lookup.
What does “URL to IP address” mean?
It means finding the network address associated with the host name in a URL. More precisely, a URL is one kind of URI: it identifies a resource and gives a way to locate it. A browser or other application extracts the host name, then uses name resolution—usually DNS—to find address records for that name. [RFC 3986]
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For example, in https://www.example.com:8443/products?id=3#details, the host is www.example.com. The scheme is https, the port is 8443, the path is /products, the query is id=3, and the fragment is details. DNS normally looks up the registered-name host—not the scheme, port, path, query, or fragment. If a URL uses an IP address directly as its host, that address is already present and does not need to be discovered by resolving a DNS name. [RFC 3986]
How does DNS find the address?
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The application identifies the host name in the URL.
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The device asks its configured DNS resolver for records for that name. In a common setup, the resolver is recursive: it obtains the answer on the device’s behalf.
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If the resolver has a usable cached answer, it may return it. Otherwise, it queries DNS, following referrals as needed to reach the relevant authoritative DNS data. For a domain name, this can involve referrals from the root zone to a top-level domain such as
.com, and then to the domain’s authoritative name servers. -
The answer may include A records for IPv4, AAAA records for IPv6, or both. A name can have multiple address records.
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The application can use an address as part of attempting a network connection. A DNS answer alone does not establish that the connection or website will work.
Google Cloud’s General DNS overview describes recursive and authoritative resolver roles and illustrates the referral process.
What do A and AAAA records contain?
| Record type | Address family | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| A | IPv4 | An IPv4 address. The DNS specification defines it as a 32-bit Internet address; a host with multiple Internet addresses can have multiple A records. [RFC 1035] |
| AAAA | IPv6 | A single IPv6 address in the record. IPv6 addresses are 128 bits. [RFC 3596] |
A host name may have both types, and either type can have multiple records. That is why “the IP address” can be an oversimplification: a lookup may return several addresses, and a client may choose among them. Cloudflare’s DNS records documentation, last updated June 2, 2026, describes A and AAAA records as mapping a name to one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.
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Why can the result vary?
A lookup reports what a particular resolver returns at a particular time; it does not reveal one guaranteed, permanent address for a website. DNS records can list multiple addresses and can be changed. Resolvers may also return cached data until its time to live (TTL) expires. The TTL indicates how long a resolver should cache a response before revalidating it. Resolver location, network configuration, and cache state can therefore affect what you see. [Cloudflare DNS records documentation]
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When comparing results, note the record type (A or AAAA), the resolver queried, the time of the lookup, the number of addresses returned, and any relevant TTL or cache state. A different result is not automatically evidence that one lookup is wrong.
How can you check a host name?
First, take the host name from the URL; do not include its scheme, path, query, or fragment. Then query the record type you want. For example, where dig is installed, these commands ask for IPv4 and IPv6 records:
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dig example.com A
dig example.com AAAATo trace DNS referrals, Google Cloud documents this example:
dig +trace google.comdig is not available by default on every operating system, and command syntax or available alternatives vary. See Google Cloud’s DNS overview for the trace example.
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No A answer, but an AAAA answer—or the reverse: the name may be configured to provide only one address family. Check each record type separately.
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Different addresses at different times: compare the resolver, observation time, TTL, and cache state. Records may have changed, or a resolver may still have a cached response.
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The name resolves, but the website still fails: DNS has supplied address information; it has not confirmed that the server, network route, port, TLS connection, or application is working.
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