What Is IP (Internet Protocol) Address?

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is an identification assigned to a computer host on the Internet. The initial version of IP address (version 4, IPv4) uses 32 bits or 4 bytes to represent IP addresses. This format gives 4,294,967,296, about 4,294 million, possible unique IP addresses.

A 4-byte IP address is normally represented with 4 decimal numbers separated by dots (.). For example, 64.233.161.147 is a version 4 IP address. Validation of this IP address format is very simple.

But not all IP addresses are used to assigned to computer hots on the Internet. A lots of them are reserved for special uses only. Here are some examples of reserved IP address ranges:

• 127.0.0.0 - 127.255.255.255: Reserved for loopback and private network use only.
• 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255: Reserved for private network use only.
• 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255: Reserved for private network use only.
• 192.88.99.0 - 192.88.99.255: Reserved for IPv6 to IPv4 relay use only.

⇒ What Is IP Address Class

⇐ What Is IP (Internet Protocol) Network

⇑ IP Network

⇑⇑ Internet Connection - Frequently Asked Questions