IP addresses

An IP address is like a postal address, but for a computer connected to the internet.

Different versions

Originally there were 256 IP addresses, because there were only like three computers.

Soon people realised we needed more.

They came up with IPv4, which looks like 127.0.0.53. It's four numbers between 0 and 255.

(How many IPv4 addresses are there?)

Soon people realised we needed more.

They came up with IPv6, which looks like 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946. It's sixteen bytes long. It should last us a while.