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Glossary Networking

IPv6

IPv6 is the newer version of the Internet Protocol, using 128-bit addresses to replace the nearly exhausted 32-bit IPv4 space.

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In more detail

IPv4 offers about 4.3 billion addresses; IPv6 offers 2128. Addresses are written as eight groups of hex digits (2001:db8:0:0:0:0:0:1), and runs of zero groups can be shortened once with :: (2001:db8::1). A single network normally gets a /64.

Example

Shorten or expand an address with the IPv6 Address Compressor and IPv6 Address Expander.

Try these tools

IPv6 Address Compressor

Compress a full-form IPv6 address to its shortest valid :: representation.

IPv6 Address Expander

Expand a compressed IPv6 address (using ::) to its full 8-group form.

IPv6 Address Validator

Validate an IPv6 address and classify it as global unicast, unique local, link-local, multicast, or loopback.

See also

  • Glossary IP address
    An IP address is the number that identifies a device on a network so that data can be sent to it.
  • Glossary NAT
    NAT (Network Address Translation) lets many devices with private IP addresses share one public IP address by rewriting addresses and ports.
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