TTL (Time to Live)
How long, in seconds, a DNS record may be cached by resolvers before it must be looked up again.
Published on June 22, 2026By Namefi Team
- glossary
TTL (time to live) is a value, in seconds, attached to every DNS record that tells resolvers how long they may cache the answer before checking again. A short TTL (say 300 seconds) means changes take effect quickly but generates more lookups; a long TTL (86,400 seconds = one day) is efficient but means an update lingers in caches. Lowering the TTL a day before you plan a change is the standard trick for fast DNS propagation. TTL governs DNS caching only — it is unrelated to a domain's registration term or to the on-chain ownership layer a tokenized domain adds. Sources: RFC 1035; Cloudflare TTL glossary.
Related keywords
- TTL
- time to live
- DNS cache
- DNS propagation
- record caching