What is an IP address?
An IP address, or Internet Protocol address, is a unique numerical identifier assigned to every device connected to the internet. It is used to identify and communicate with devices on a network, allowing data to be sent and received between them. There are two main versions of IP addresses: IPv4, which uses a 32-bit address format and supports approximately 4 billion unique addresses, and IPv6, which uses a 128-bit address format and supports a virtually unlimited number of unique addresses.
IPv4 vs. IPv6 addresses
Two versions of Internet Protocol are now in use, IP Version 4 (IPv4) and IP Version 6 (IPv6). They have two primary functions: identification and location addressing. The main difference between IPv4 and IPv6 is the number of possible addresses. IPv4 only allows for about 4 billion, because it uses just 32 bits. IPv6 was introduced in 1995 to ensure that the world would not run out anytime soon: IPv6 uses 128 bits, resulting in 3.4 x 1038 possible addresses.