BIMI Record Checker

What is BIMI?

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email specification that lets domain owners publish a brand logo in DNS. When an email passes DMARC authentication, participating mailbox providers display the verified logo next to the sender's name in the recipient's inbox. This strengthens brand recognition, builds trust with recipients, and provides a visual incentive for organizations to adopt strict email authentication policies.

BIMI Record Tags

A BIMI record is published as a TXT record at default._bimi.<domain>. It uses semicolon-separated tags:

v

Version — must be BIMI1. This is the only supported version and is required in every BIMI record.

l

Logo URL — an HTTPS URL pointing to the SVG image file used as the brand indicator. The URL must use the https:// scheme. An empty value indicates that the domain explicitly opts out of BIMI for the given selector.

a

Authority (VMC URL) — an optional HTTPS URL pointing to a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) that cryptographically ties the logo to the domain. Some mailbox providers require a VMC for logo display.

DMARC Prerequisite

BIMI requires the sending domain to have a published DMARC record with an enforcement policy of p=quarantine or p=reject. A policy of p=none (monitor only) does not satisfy the requirement. This ensures that only domains actively protecting their email flows can display brand logos, reducing the risk of phishing abuse.

SVG Logo Requirements

The logo referenced by the l= tag must conform to a restricted SVG profile based on SVG Tiny 1.2:

• The file must be served over HTTPS with a valid TLS certificate.
• The document must use the SVG Tiny 1.2 profile (baseProfile="tiny-ps").
• The image must be square — the viewBox width and height must be equal.
• No embedded scripts, external references, interactive elements, or animations are allowed.
• The <title> element should contain the organization name.
• The file should be reasonably small (typically under 32 KB).

Verified Mark Certificates (VMC)

A VMC is an X.509 certificate issued by a qualified Certificate Authority (such as DigiCert or Entrust) that binds a trademarked logo to a domain. The certificate contains the SVG logo and the domain name, enabling mailbox providers to cryptographically verify that the logo is authorized for that sender. While not all providers require a VMC today, it is strongly recommended and will likely become mandatory as the standard matures. Obtaining a VMC requires a registered trademark for the logo.

Learn More

For the full specification, see the BIMI Group Implementation Guide and the IETF BIMI Working Draft. For continuous monitoring of your BIMI, DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records, try DMARCguard.