A Records vs. AAAA Records | EasyDMARC

A Records vs. AAAA Records

2 Min Read
Avs and AAAA written on a blue background


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.

Various authors from EasyDMARC teams have contributed to our blog during company's lifetime. This author brings everyone together.
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