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Convert domains between their readable Unicode form and the ASCII Punycode form DNS actually uses — münchen.de and xn--mnchen-3ya.de are the same domain. Conversion to ASCII uses your browser's own IDNA implementation, so the result matches what the browser will really resolve.
It also flags a specific danger: domains where a single label mixes writing systems. Cyrillic "а" is visually identical to Latin "a", so a domain can look exactly like a brand you trust while resolving somewhere else entirely. Seeing the punycode form is how you catch it.
Frequently asked questions
What is Punycode and why does it exist?
DNS only handles a restricted ASCII character set, but domain names need to work in every script. Punycode encodes a Unicode domain label into ASCII, prefixed with xn--, so the existing DNS infrastructure can carry it unchanged. Your browser converts back for display.
What is a homograph attack?
Registering a domain that looks identical to a real one by substituting visually identical characters from another script — а Cyrillic "а" for a Latin "a", for instance. The rendered name is indistinguishable, but it's a different domain. Browsers now display punycode instead of Unicode when a label mixes scripts, which is the main defence.
Why is 日本.jp not flagged as suspicious?
Because mixed scripts are only a warning sign within a single label. Every non-Latin domain has a Latin TLD, so checking the whole name would flag every legitimate internationalised domain. This tool checks each label separately, which is the same rule browsers apply.
Can I convert a full URL?
Paste one and the domain is extracted — the scheme and path are stripped. Only the hostname is ever Punycode-encoded; paths and query strings use percent-encoding instead, which the URL encoder tool handles.