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What is an IP Address?

A Simple Explanation of IP Addresses

Christian Stewart ✔️
4 min readMar 11, 2020
Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash

IP address is short for Internet Protocol address. An IP address is a label used to identify a device or multiple devices on a computer network.

What does an IP Address Look like?

IP addresses are written as a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods.

Example: 69.89.31.226

What is an IP Address in Simple Terms?

An IP address is like a postal address for your house. When you use the internet, data flows from your device to the internet and back to your device. Websites you visit use your IP address to find your device and send it the proper data.

IP Address Illustration

What is an IP Address Used for?

IP addresses are used for routing the data from the sites you visit to your specific network and device. Browsing the web involves sending “packets” of information back and forth between websites (e.g. medium.com) and your computer.

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