An A record and AAAA record are both host types of DNS records, as they both resolve a hostname to an IP address. Although they’re similar, they have their differences. When performing a DNS Records Lookup for your website, you’ll typically find a list of assorted DNS records.
Understanding the distinctions between TXT records, PTR records, CNAME records, SOA records, MX records, NS records, A records, and AAAA records is vital for every website owner.
In this article, we’ll highlight some differences between A records vs. AAAA records.
The A Record
What is a DNS A record? It’s one of the fundamental types of DNS records. An A record is required to resolve an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) to an IPv4 address.
So, for example, if you request the A record of mywebsite.com, the server returns the corresponding IPv4 address, 192.168.10.1.
An A record is commonly used when matching a website to its numerical identifier but can also point to the root of a domain This DNS record allows users to reach your site without memorizing and inputting the actual IP address.
The AAAA Record
Like an A record, a DNS AAAA record points a domain name to an IP address. But rather than pointing to an IPv4 address, an AAAA record is used for IPv6 addresses. IPv4 and IPv6 identify a node or computer on the internet.
However, IPv6 is the newest version and is longer than IPv4. So if you’re resolving mywebsite.com using an AAAA record, you’ll get a string of hexadecimal digits, such as 2011:0dc8:45b4:0300:
A Record vs. AAAA Record
A and AAAA or “Quad A” records are essential DNS records in the Domain Name System. The main difference is that an A record resolves a domain name to its corresponding IPv4 addresses, while an AAAA record resolves a domain name to its related IPv6 addresses.
Summary
We’ve explained the significant difference between an AAAA record and an A record. They’re used for the same purpose in the Domain Name System.
Both DNS record types resolve a website’s domain name to itsIP address (which is difficult to remember). The former is used for IPv4 IP addresses and the latter is required for IPv6 IP addresses.
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