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It's easy to understand that a jpeg, png, gif or mp4 file underlies an art NFT (ERC-721 token), which can be proved by looking up the artwork's IPFS address and seeing the filename extension there.
But what file format underlies a .eth ENS domain name?
What digital object are buyers of NFT domains (which are also ERC-721 tokens) actually physically buying? Are these domain files located on IPFS for look-up like art NFTs as well?
What you are describing is called the metadata. Here in example of metadata for a specific ENS NFT:
`{
"name": "nick.eth",
"description": "nick.eth, an ENS name.",
"attributes": [
{
"trait_type": "Created Date",
"display_type": "date",
"value": 1580803395000
},
{
"trait_type": "Registration Date",
"display_type": "date",
"value": 1580803395000
},
{
"trait_type": "Expiration Date",
"display_type": "date",
"value": 1698131707000
}
],
"name_length": 4,
"short_name": null,
"length": 0,
"url": "https://app.ens.domains/name/nick.eth",
"version": 0,
"background_image": "https://metadata.ens.domains/mainnet/avatar/nick.eth",
"image_url": "https://metadata.ens.domains/mainnet/0x57f1887a8BF19b14fC0dF6Fd9B2acc9Af147eA85/0x5d5727cb0fb76e4944eafb88ec9a3cf0b3c9025a4b2f947729137c5d7f84f68f/image"
}`
As you can see the actual ENS name is just a string and the metadata is stored on the ENS metadata server: https://metadata.ens.domains/docs
