IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol, which is one of the main protocols on the modern Internet. It is the technology that has historically been responsible for addressing and routing data packets across networks.
IPv4 is characterized by its use of 32-bit addresses, which is equivalent to four bytes. These addresses are usually written in decimal format, separated by dots, such as 93.188.42.188. This design allows for a theoretical maximum of approximately 4.3 billion unique addresses.
As the Internet grew rapidly and the number of connected devices increased, the number of available IPv4 addresses was exhausted. This necessitated the development and introduction of its successor, IPv6, which uses 128-bit addresses to provide a significantly larger address range. However, IPv4 continues to be widely used and supported worldwide, often in combination with techniques such as NAT (Network Address Translation).