Editing IPv4 (section)

{{Short description|Fourth version of the Internet Protocol}}
 
{{Infobox networking protocol
|title=Internet Protocol version 4
|logo=
|logo alt=
|image=[[File:IPv4 Packet-en.svg|250px|class=skin-invert-image]]
|image alt=
|caption=IPv4 packet
|is stack=yes 
|abbreviation = IPv4
|purpose=[[Internetworking]] protocol
|developer=[[DARPA]]
|date={{Start date and age|df=yes|1981}}
|based on=
|influenced=[[IPv6]]
|osilayer=[[Network layer]]
|ports=
|rfcs={{IETF RFC|791|plainlink=yes}}
|hardware=
}}
{{IPstack}}

'''Internet Protocol version 4''' ('''IPv4''') is the first version of the [[Internet Protocol]] (IP) as a standalone specification. It is one of the core protocols of standards-based [[internetworking]] methods in the [[Internet]] and other [[packet-switched]] networks. IPv4 was the first version deployed for production on [[SATNET]] in 1982 and on the [[ARPANET]] in January 1983. It is still used to route most [[Internet traffic]] today,<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=BGP Analysis Reports |url=http://bgp.potaroo.net/index-bgp.html |access-date=2013-01-09 |website=BGP Reports |language=en-US}}</ref> even with the ongoing deployment of [[Internet Protocol version 6]] (IPv6),<ref>{{Cite web|title=IPv6 – Google|url=https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html|access-date=2022-01-28|website=www.google.com}}</ref> its successor.

IPv4 uses a [[32-bit]] address space which provides 4,294,967,296 (2<sup>32</sup>) unique addresses, but large blocks are reserved for special networking purposes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry|url=https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv4-special-registry/iana-ipv4-special-registry.xhtml|access-date=2022-01-28|website=www.iana.org}}</ref>{{Ref RFC|6890}}