As the internet grew it became apparent the need for more IP addresses. Initially users would access the internet via a phone line and with over 4 billion IP 4 address available this was plenty. As additional devices, such as mobile phones, were introduced the need for additional IP addresses grew. IP version 6 was created to address the issue of not enough IP addresses.

IP Version 4:

• Format: Dotted decimal notation (e.g., 127.0.0.1)
• 32-bit address space
• Limited to 4,294,967,296 unique addresses

IP Version 6:

• Format: Hexadecimal notation with eight groups of four hexadecimal digits, separated by colons (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334)
• 128-bit address space
• Provides approximately 3.4 x 10^38 unique addresses

To convert from an IP version 4 to IP version 6 address you can use our online converter. If you would like to manually perform this action then you can follow the steps below.

1. Start with the following format: 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:ffff:[IP4 address]
2. Convert the IP4 address to hexadecimal