they're like IDs for your devices every device on the internet has two addresses a media Access Control address or Mac address and an Internet Protocol address or IP address both addresses are important for sending data over the internet but for different reasons here we'll go over the primary differences between Mac and IP addresses but there's a lot we can't fit into this video dig deeper on IP addressing and subnetting for instance by clicking the link above or in the description below and subscribe to ion tech for more videos on all things business Tech the main difference between a Mac and IP address is where they're used a MAC address sometimes called the physical address is responsible for local identification it's only relevant to the local area network a device is connected to for instance a work laptop connected to an office Network can send a file to an office printer using the unique Mac address of each device anything sent outside the Lan anywhere else on the internet uses the device's public IP address sometimes called The Logical address the IP address is primarily responsible for Global identification so you could think of a MAC address like a local library card and the IP address like your passport a MAC address consists of 12 heximal digits usually grouped into six pairs separated by hyphens or colons for nearly all network devices today this address is hardcoded into a device during manufacturing Mac addresses are typically thought of as permanent but there are circumstances where they can be altered like replacing a physical network interface card installing certain firmware or software or spoofing the address for security or privacy IP addresses using the fourth iteration of Ip ipv4 consists of 32 bits usually written as four groups of numbers separated by periods IP Fe six addresses consist of 128 bits written as eight sets of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons IP addresses are assigned to devices after manufacturing and can be changed at any time typically by Network administrators or dynamically by Dynamic host configuration protocol or DHCP the MAC address and IP address do different jobs but they still work together say you use a smartphone while on your home network to send an email to a business in a different region your smartphone uses its Mac address to communicate with your home router but because the email is going to a network outside of your local home network the data packet needs to include a source and destination IP address routers use these IP addresses to forward the packet to its final destination on a different network when the packet reaches the business's local network a router or server uses address resolution protocol to match the destination IP address to the recipient devices Mac address ensuring the email reaches the correct device what other questions do you have about Mac or IP addresses share your thoughts in the comments and remember to like And subscribe too [Music]