DNS Record and TTL Parser for Zone Files and dig Output

This DNS record and TTL parser reads BIND zone file text or dig output and lists every record with its TTL in seconds and plain time, so you can see how long each change will take to reach users. It runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type is sent to our server.

What it understands

• $TTL and $ORIGIN, @, relative names and lines that continue the previous name.
• TTLs in seconds or BIND units (1h, 2d, 1w2d3h), with or without the class.
• Multi-line SOA records in parentheses and comments after semicolons.
• dig answer lines (name TTL IN TYPE value).

Choosing TTLs

A TTL is how long resolvers may cache a record. Long TTLs (a day) reduce queries but slow changes down; short TTLs (5 minutes) make changes fast but add load. Before a migration, lower the TTL of the records you will change to 300 seconds at least one old-TTL period in advance, then raise it again afterwards.

SOA timers

Refresh, retry and expire control secondary name servers; the last SOA field is the negative caching TTL (RFC 2308), how long “does not exist” answers are cached. A long negative TTL makes a newly added record invisible to users who looked it up just before you created it.

To query live records, use our DNS lookup and DNS propagation checker.

How we checked it

We tested the parser on 11-12 October 2026 with a zone file using $ORIGIN, $TTL, a multi-line SOA, relative names, inherited names and per-record TTLs, and checked the TTL converter (5400 = 1h30m, 1w2d = 777,600 s).

Frequently asked questions