Convert IPv4 to IPv6

About IPv4 to IPv6 Tool

IPV4 to IPV6 conversion tool gives facility to convert any given IPV4 Address to its equivalent IPV6 IP Address. It gives numerous benefits when it comes to using the same IPV4 Address in its IPV6 variant.

What is IPV4 and IPV6?

IPv4 to IPv6 converter tool maps a given IPv4 address to IPv6 address instantly. Just enter the IPv4 format, and it instantly converts the IPv4 to its IPv6 equivalent.

The tool provides IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses. It gives various benefits when it comes to using the same IPv4 address in its IPv6 variant.

What is an IP address?

Just Go to Google and type "What is my IP" Google displays your IP address.

IP address, Internet Protocol address is a numeric label assigned to each device on the internet that uses TCP/IP protocol for communication purposes. An IP address acts as an identifier for a particular device on a specific network. The IP address is also called the internet address or IP number.

What is IPv4?

IPv4 is an IP version that is most widely used and recognized by internet users. It was the first version of IP used for production in the ARPANET in 1983. It utilizes a 32-bit address scheme and has more than 4 billion IP addresses. IPv4 is considered the primary internet protocol and carries almost 94% of the total internet traffic.

What is IPv6?

IPv6 is the latest IP version, also called IPng (Internet Protocol next generation). Because of the unconstructive distribution of the IPv4 address, soon there surfaced a fear regarding the shortage of IPv4 addresses.

IPv6 is deployed to fulfill the need for more internet addresses. In addition, it was aimed to resolve the issues associated with IPv4 addresses. IPv6 utilizes a 128-bit scheme and has more than 340 undecillion unique address space.

An example of uncompressed form of IPv6 is: 1050:0000:0000:0000:0005:0600:300c:326b.

However, you can compress the IPv6 as per your need.

The key difference between IPv4 and IPv6

• IPv4 utilizes a 32-bit scheme, whereas IPv6 utilizes a 128-bit scheme.
• IPv4 contains only numeric values, whereas IPv6 contains alphanumeric values.
• A dot separates IPv4 binary bits (.), whereas a colon separates IPv6 binary bits (:).
• IPv4 allows twelve header fields, whereas IPv6 allows eight header fields.
• In IPv4, you have checksum fields, while IPv6 doesn't have such fields.
• IPv4 supports broadcast, while IPv6 supports multicast routing.
• IPv4 practices ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) to map to MAC address. However, IPv6 practices NDP (Neighbour Discovery Protocol) to map to MAC address.
• IPv4 supports VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Mask). However, IPv6 doesn't support such a facility.

Why prefer IPv6? What are the benefits of IPv6?

IPv6 is the sixth version of the internet protocol and the successor of IPv4. It functions similar to IPv4, as it provides unique IP addresses to internet-connected devices. However, the main difference is that it uses a 128 bit IP address compared to IPv4, which supports 32-bit IP addresses.

Key benefits of using IPv6 address

• In IPv6, the size of routing tables is reduced, and it performs routing more efficiently and hierarchically.
• NAT (Network Address Translation) is no more required
• IPv6 allows end-to-end connectivity at the IP layer
• Auto-configuration
• Built-in network security layer (IPsec)
• No further private address collisions
• More reliable multicast routing
• More modest and more significant packet headers format
• Precise and more effective routing
• The actual quality of service (QoS), also called "flow labeling."
• Built-in authentication and privacy backing
• Flexible options and extensions
• Easier management (no more DHCP)

Is IPv6 faster?

A study conducted by security blog Sucuri, where they run series of tests, found that in direct connections, IPv4 and IPv6 deliver the same speed, IPv4 occasionally won the test.

On the other hand, Facebook's Engineering blog stated that accessing Facebook can become 10 to 15 percent faster over IPv6.

However, in theory, IPv6 must be a little faster because cycles don't have to be wasted on NAT translations. Although IPv6 also has larger packets, in some cases, that large packets make it slower.

The fundamental difference between IPv4 and IPv6 is that, with time, IPv4 mature and, thus, is highly optimized, more so than IPv6 networks. So with time and tuning, IPv6 networks will also get developed and optimized.

Can IPv4 and IPv6 coexist?

Even though IPv6 is the latest, more advanced, and improved internet protocol version compared to IPv4. But still, both will coexist in the long run. The reason is the existence of techniques that rely both on IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

Although, IPv6 is getting popular. But still, almost 95% of the internet traffic is on IPv4. At the same time, the networks gain the ability to support both protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) also support their co-existence.

The dual traffic of both protocols on the same network creates some inconsistencies. Therefore, it will be much challenging for both of them to work together.

How to map a valid IPv4 address into IPv6 address notation?

The future belongs to IPv6. It's 128-bit long and provides almost unlimited IP addresses. To map a valid Internet Protocol Version 4 address into Internet Protocol Version 6 address notation, perform the following steps.

1. Open the IPv4 to IPv6 Converter.
2. Enter a valid IPv4 address. Suppose you enter an IPv4 address 127.255.255.255.
3. Click on the "Convert IPv4 to IPv6" button.
4. The tool processes your request and provides you a converted IPv6 address.
5. In the case of the above entered IPv4 address, the tool provides you following results.
1. IPV6 Compressed: ::ffff:7fff:ffff
2. IPV6 Expanded (Shortened): 0:0:0:0:0:ffff:7fff:ffff
3. IPV6 Expanded: 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:ffff:7fff:ffff