---
tags: [networks]
created: Tuesday, August 06, 2024
---

# MAC addresses

A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a physical address in contrast to, say,
an IP address which is logical.

Each device on a [local network](Link_Layer_of_Internet_Protocol.md) has a MAC
as a unique identifier. It is a hardware-based, physical attribute of the
device, typically permanently encoded onto a non-volatile memory chip attached
to the ![network_card](Network_card.md).

MAC addresses consist of 6 bytes (48-bits) represented as 12
[hexadecimal_digits](Hexadecimal_number_system.md).