It is used as a precursor for dysprosium-containing materials in research on rare-earth chemistry and in the preparation of magnetic optical and electronic compounds.

Its primary purpose is to serve as a soluble source of dysprosium ions for synthesis materials development and scientific investigations.

Dysprosium(III) chloride hexahydrate is a hydrated rare-earth salt with the formula DyCl6HO appearing as a white to pale-yellow crystalline solid.