What does the DMARC rf= tag do?

DMARC `rf=` Tag: Report Format (rf)

The DMARC rf tag specifies the format for forensic reports. Removed in RFC 9989 (DMARCbis). If present in existing records, receivers may ignore it.

Importance
Optional

Tag
rf=

Default
afrf

Example
rf=afrf

⚠️ Removed in DMARCbis (RFC 9989, May 2026). The report-format tag was dropped because only the AFRF format was ever used in practice. Existing records keep working at older receivers; new records should leave this tag out. More on DMARCbis →

✅ Valid Values

            afrf        

💬 What This Tag Does

The "rf" tag specified the format for forensic failure reports. Only "afrf" (Authentication Failure Reporting Format, RFC 6591) was ever defined. This tag was removed in RFC 9989 (DMARCbis). It is no longer part of the DMARC specification. If present in an existing record, receivers may ignore it. There is no need to include it in new records.