IPv4

IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) is the original addressing system of the internet, using 32-bit addresses written as four numbers separated by dots (e.g., 93.184.216.34). It supports about 4.3 billion unique addresses, which seemed like plenty in the 1980s but is now almost completely exhausted. Most of the internet still runs on IPv4, but organizations increasingly use IPv6 alongside it to handle the growing number of connected devices.