RACE encoding explained

RACE encoding is a method for encoding foreign languages that use non-English characters (Chinese, Japanese, etc.) in ASCII characters for storage in domain name system servers.^[1] All names without non-English characters are unchanged. RACE codes are made up of digits, letters and dashes.^[2]

RACE encoding is part of the larger scheme of the Universal Character Set specifically the ISO/IEC 10646. The assignment of characters also coincides with Unicode.

Today, it is mostly abandoned in favor of punycode.

Nomenclature

RACE is an acronym for its main purpose.

• R stands for Row-based
• A for ASCII
• C for Compatible
• E Encoding

External links

• Acmqueue.com, DNS Complexity, Paul Vixie, ACM Queue

Notes and References

1. http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-idn-race-03 Row-based ASCII Compatible Encoding for IDN
2. https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0%2C2542%2Ct%3DRACE+encoding&i%3D50122%2C00.asp "Definition of: RACE encoding"