IP Address Converter & Analyzer

What you can do with this IP tool

• Validate IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in your browser
• Convert IPv4 to binary, hexadecimal, and decimal
• Expand and compress IPv6 using standard rules
• Analyze CIDR prefixes, subnet masks, and wildcards
• Calculate network, broadcast, and usable host ranges for IPv4
• Compute IPv6 prefix ranges and huge address counts with BigInt
• Classify private, public, loopback, link-local, multicast, and documentation addresses
• Show IPv4-mapped IPv6 forms without claiming a native IPv6 conversion
• Copy fields or download structured JSON locally
• Private by design: nothing is sent to a server for analysis

What is an IP address?

An Internet Protocol (IP) address identifies a network interface so routers can forward packets to the correct destination. Today you will encounter two families: IPv4 (still widely deployed) and IPv6 (required for long-term address growth and many modern networks).

What is IPv4?

IPv4 addresses are 32-bit values commonly written as four decimal octets separated by dots, such as 192.168.1.1. That same value can also be expressed as an unsigned integer (3232235777), as eight-bit binary groups, or as hexadecimal. Because the space is limited, networks use CIDR prefixes and private ranges extensively.

What is IPv6?

IPv6 addresses are 128-bit values written as eight hexadecimal hextets, for example 2001:db8::1. Leading zeros in a hextet may be omitted, and one contiguous run of zero hextets may be compressed with ::. The larger space supports hierarchical allocation and many special-purpose prefixes (link-local, unique local, documentation, multicast, and more).

IPv4 vs IPv6

What is CIDR?

CIDR notation appends a prefix length to an address. 192.168.1.0/24 means the first 24 bits are the network prefix. The tool uses that prefix to derive the subnet mask, wildcard mask, network address, broadcast address, and usable host range for IPv4.

What is a subnet mask?

A subnet mask is the IPv4 dotted form of a prefix. For /24, the mask is 255.255.255.0. The wildcard mask is the inverse (0.0.0.255), often used in access-control lists.

What is a private IP address?

Private IPv4 addresses from RFC 1918 are intended for internal networks: 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16. Documentation and other special-purpose ranges are classified separately so they are not mistaken for ordinary private addresses.

What is an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address?

The form ::ffff:192.168.1.1 embeds an IPv4 address inside an IPv6 textual representation. It is useful in dual-stack programming interfaces. It does not mean the IPv4 host has been converted into a native globally routable IPv6 address.

What is an IPv6 prefix?

An IPv6 prefix such as 2001:db8::/32 identifies how many leading bits are fixed for a network block. This tool shows the network prefix, the first and last addresses in the range, and the total address count using BigInt so extremely large values stay exact.

Common ways people use this converter

• Subnet planning

  Paste a CIDR block to confirm network, broadcast, usable hosts, and mask values before updating firewall or DHCP configs.

• Packet and log decoding

  Turn dotted IPv4 addresses into binary or hex when correlating captures, ACLs, or hardware register dumps.

• IPv6 normalization

  Expand compressed addresses and compare canonical forms when debugging dual-stack services or DNS AAAA records.

• Address classification checks

  Quickly see whether an address is private, documentation, link-local, or multicast before treating it as routable.

• Teaching and interviews

  Demonstrate CIDR math, /31 point-to-point semantics, and IPv4-mapped IPv6 notation with live examples.

• Privacy-conscious analysis

  Analyze internal or customer IP values locally when you do not want to paste them into a third-party lookup service.

How to analyze an IP address on Toolshelf

1. 1Enter an IP or CIDR, pick a mode (Auto Detect recommended), or choose an example.
2. 2Click Analyze to validate and compute representations and network details.
3. 3Copy individual fields or download JSON for docs, tickets, or scripts.

Frequently asked questions

What is an IP address?

An IP address is a numeric identifier assigned to a network interface so packets can be routed between hosts. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses written in dotted decimal; IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses written as hexadecimal hextets.

What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?

IPv4 provides about 4.3 billion addresses (32 bits). IPv6 provides a vastly larger space (128 bits), a simpler header design, and built-in support for autoconfiguration and modern addressing practices. They are different address families; an IPv4 address is not automatically a native IPv6 address.

How do I convert an IPv4 address to binary?

Each of the four octets is converted to an 8-bit binary value, keeping leading zeros. For example, 192.168.1.1 becomes 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000001. This tool performs that conversion locally when you click Analyze.

How do I convert an IP address to hexadecimal?

For IPv4, each octet becomes two hex digits (for example 192.168.1.1 → C0A80101 or C0.A8.01.01). For IPv6, the full 128-bit value can be shown as 32 hex digits without colons, separate from the colon-separated textual form.

What does /24 mean in an IP address?

In CIDR notation, /24 means the first 24 bits identify the network and the remaining 8 bits identify hosts. For IPv4, that is a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and 256 total addresses in the block.

What is a subnet mask?

A subnet mask marks which bits of an IPv4 address belong to the network versus the host. 255.255.255.0 corresponds to a /24 prefix: the first three octets are network bits.

What is a private IP address?

Private IPv4 addresses are reserved for local networks and are not globally routable on the public Internet. The common RFC 1918 ranges are 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16. Documentation ranges such as 192.0.2.0/24 are not private.

What is an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address?

An IPv4-mapped IPv6 address embeds an IPv4 address in the form ::ffff:a.b.c.d (for example ::ffff:192.168.1.1). It is a representation used by some dual-stack APIs. It is not a native globally routable IPv6 equivalent of that IPv4 address.

Can IPv4 be directly converted to IPv6?

Not in the sense of producing an equivalent native IPv6 address for every IPv4 host. You can represent an IPv4 address as an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address (::ffff:x.x.x.x), but that does not assign or imply a global IPv6 address for the host.

What is CIDR notation?

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) writes an address with a prefix length, such as 192.168.1.0/24 or 2001:db8::/32. The number after the slash is how many leading bits belong to the network prefix.

Does this IP converter send my IP address to a server?

No. Toolshelf analyzes IP addresses and CIDR values locally in your browser with JavaScript. Your input is not uploaded for conversion or lookup, and the tool does not call external geolocation or IP APIs.

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