How does email delivery work between mail servers?

Question

How does an email address actually work?

I know how dns translates domain names into IP addresses so that it knows where the person wants to go, but I have no idea how email addresses work.

Thanks in advance, Francis

Answer 1

The very short answer is: using MX records.

The domain-part (i.e. the stuff to the right of the @-character) is used in a DNS query to find the MX records for that domain. Like there are A-records for finding IP addresses, MX records stand for mail exchanger records and points to one or more servers that are responsible for all emails to the specified domain.

When you send an email, your email server finds the MX records for the recipient's domain and delivers the email to that server. The part to the left of the @-character in the email address then identifies the specific mailbox at that server.