MAC Address Generator

A MAC address is a unique physical identifier for network devices, used to identify different network interfaces in a Local Area Network (LAN). It consists of 6 groups of hexadecimal numbers, with each group containing 2 characters. The groups are separated by colons (:) or hyphens (-). For example: (00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E).

A unicast address is used for one-to-one communication and uniquely identifies a single device; a multicast address is used for one-to-many communication, identifying a group of devices, with data sent to all members of the group.

It is typically hard-coded by the manufacturer as a physical address, but can be temporarily modified via software, a process known as spoofing.

A universally administered address is assigned by the device manufacturer, with its first 24 bits being a unique manufacturer identifier (OUI) to ensure global uniqueness. It is the default MAC address of a device when it leaves the factory. A locally administered address is manually set by users or network administrators, identified by setting the second bit of the second byte in the MAC address to 1. It is only valid within the local network and can be used for temporary replacement or custom addresses.

A MAC address is a physical/data link layer address that identifies hardware; an IP address is a network layer address that identifies a logical network location.