Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4)

The fourth iteration of the Internet Protocol (IP), IPv4 is the dominant network layer protocol on the Internet. IPv4 is a data-oriented protocol that is used on a packet-switched internetwork; for example, Ethernet. IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing scheme, represented by four 8-bit (0–255) numbers separated by periods; for example, 121.145.241.001. IPv4 supports 4.3 billion addresses for electronic devices. IPv4 and Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) are formally adopted for general use.