For data to move successfully across networks, devices rely on addresses at different operational layers. A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a permanent hardware address burned directly into a device's network card, serving to identify that device specifically within a local network segment.

In contrast, an Internet Protocol (IP) address is a logical address used to route packets across multiple interconnected networks. IPv4 addresses use numeric formats such as 192.168.1.5, which provide approximately 4 billion possible addresses. Because available IPv4 addresses became scarce, IPv6 was introduced, utilizing significantly longer addresses to support a vastly larger number of connected devices.