An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a unique sequence of values separated by periods that is used to identify a device on a network. IP addresses are used globally by the Internet, and locally by the devices on your network to ensure that network data is sent to its intended recipient.
IP addresses can be public or private. Public IP addresses are visible to any device on the Internet, while private IP addresses are only visible to devices connected to the same network.
Because there are too many Internet-connected devices used worldwide to assign each one its own public IP address, local networks (like your home or office network) typically subdivide the public IP address that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns you into a series of private IP addresses.
Modern IP addresses adhere to version 4 (IPv4) or version 6 (IPv6).
Example of an IPv4 address: 12.301.405.2
Example of an IPv6 address: 2001:0db8:5078:31c3:0000:0000:31fd:fe04
While IPv4 is the most well-known IP address format, it no longer provides enough unique public IP addresses to allow the Internet to function correctly, so the Internet is transitioning to IPv6. IPv6 supports over 1,000 times more unique IP addresses than IPv4 and introduces other technical benefits that ensure the Internet can support continuous growth in the future.