Every device connected to the internet carries a numeric identifier called an IP address. It is the fundamental routing mechanism that makes the entire internet function — without it, no data could find its way from a server to your screen. But while IP addresses are essential for connectivity, they also reveal a surprising amount of information about you: your approximate geographic location, your internet service provider, your timezone, and even whether you are running a VPN or have a WebRTC privacy leak.

In this guide, we will break down exactly what an IP address is, the two versions currently in use, what data can be derived from your IP, the hidden WebRTC leak that most VPN users do not know about, and how you can check your own IP address and run privacy diagnostics entirely in your browser.

You can check your IP address right now using our free What Is My IP Address? Tool.

What Exactly Is an IP Address?§

An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical label assigned to every device connected to a network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. Think of it as the postal address of your device on the internet. When you visit a website, your browser sends a request that includes your IP address so the server knows where to send the response back.

There are two versions of IP addresses in use today:

IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4)§

The original and still most widely used format. An IPv4 address is a 32-bit number written in dotted decimal notation, like this:

192.168.1.1

Each of the four octets ranges from 0 to 255, giving a total of approximately 4.3 billion unique addresses. With the explosive growth of connected devices — smartphones, laptops, IoT sensors, smart TVs, and cloud servers — IPv4 addresses have been effectively exhausted since the early 2010s.

IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6)§

The successor protocol, designed to solve the address exhaustion problem. An IPv6 address is a 128-bit number written in hexadecimal notation:

2607:f8b0:4004:800::200e

IPv6 provides 3.4 undecillion unique addresses — enough to assign an IP to every grain of sand on Earth. While adoption is growing, most consumer ISPs and websites still primarily use IPv4, and many devices maintain both simultaneously (dual-stack).

Public vs. Private IP Addresses§

Not all IP addresses are visible to the outside world. Your home router uses private IP addresses (ranges like 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x) to assign unique identifiers to devices on your local network. Your public IP address is the one your ISP assigns to your router, and it is the address that websites, servers, and online services see when you connect to them.

When someone asks "what is my IP," they are almost always referring to the public IP address — the one visible to the broader internet.

What Information Does Your IP Address Reveal?§

Your IP address is far more than just a number. Several public and commercial databases map IP addresses to a wealth of contextual information:

1. Geographic Location§

IP geolocation databases (such as MaxMind GeoLite2) map IP address ranges to approximate physical locations. While they cannot pinpoint your exact street address, they can typically determine your city, state/province, and country with reasonable accuracy. This is why streaming services use IP-based geolocation to enforce regional content restrictions.

2. Internet Service Provider (ISP)§

Your IP address reveals which company provides your internet connection. ISPs are assigned blocks of IP addresses by regional internet registries (ARIN, RIPE, APNIC, etc.), and these assignments are public. A lookup can tell whether you are on Comcast, AT&T, Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, or any other provider.

3. Autonomous System Number (ASN)§

Every ISP and large network operator is assigned an Autonomous System Number (ASN). This 16-bit or 32-bit number identifies the network operator in the global BGP routing table. ASN data reveals whether your traffic is originating from a residential ISP, a cloud provider (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), a university, or a corporate network.

4. Timezone and Language Settings§

While not directly encoded in the IP address itself, geolocation databases correlate IP ranges with timezones. If your IP maps to America/New_York, services can infer your likely timezone and serve localized content accordingly.

5. Hosting and VPN Detection§

Many IP databases include flags indicating whether an address belongs to a known data center, VPN endpoint, proxy service, or Tor exit node. This is how some streaming platforms detect VPN usage and block access.

The Hidden Threat: WebRTC IP Leaks§

Most privacy-conscious internet users understand the basics of using a VPN to mask their real IP address. However, there is a lesser-known vulnerability in modern browsers that can expose your real IP even when a VPN is active: WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication).

WebRTC is a browser API that enables peer-to-peer communication for video calls, screen sharing, and file transfers. To establish direct connections between peers, WebRTC uses a protocol called ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment), which sends STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) requests to discover the device's public IP address.

The critical privacy problem is that these STUN requests often bypass the VPN tunnel entirely, sending traffic directly through your real network interface. This means that even with a VPN active, a website running a small JavaScript snippet can discover your true public IP address through WebRTC.

How to Test for WebRTC Leaks§

The NexaTools What Is My IP Address? Tool includes a built-in WebRTC leak test. It uses the RTCPeerConnection API to create a peer connection and capture the candidate IP addresses that WebRTC exposes. If your real IP appears alongside or instead of your VPN IP, you have a WebRTC leak.

How to Fix WebRTC Leaks§

Several approaches can mitigate WebRTC IP leaks:

  1. Browser settings: Firefox allows you to disable WebRTC entirely by setting media.peerconnection.enabled to false in about:config. Chrome does not offer a built-in toggle, but extensions like WebRTC Leak Prevent can modify the ICE candidate policy.

  2. VPN with WebRTC protection: Some VPN providers (such as Mullvad, ProtonVPN, and NordVPN) implement browser-level WebRTC leak prevention by intercepting and modifying ICE candidates.

  3. Disable WebRTC in your router: Some advanced routers allow you to block STUN traffic at the network level, preventing WebRTC from discovering your public IP regardless of browser settings.

DNS Resolvers: The Other Privacy Leak§

When you type a domain name into your browser, a DNS (Domain Name System) resolver translates it into an IP address before the connection can be established. The DNS resolver you use has significant privacy implications.

Default ISP DNS Resolvers§

Most users automatically use the DNS resolver provided by their ISP. This means your ISP can see every domain you visit, building a complete profile of your browsing habits. In many jurisdictions, ISPs are legally permitted to sell this data to advertisers.

Public DNS Resolvers§

Privacy-focused alternatives include:

  • Cloudflare DNS: 1.1.1.1 — Offers DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT) encryption. Independently audited for privacy.
  • Google Public DNS: 8.8.8.8 — Widely used but raises concerns about Google's data collection practices.
  • Quad9: 9.9.9.9 — Non-profit resolver with built-in threat blocking.
  • Mullvad DNS: Privacy-first resolver operated by the Swedish VPN provider.

DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT)§

Traditional DNS queries are sent in plaintext over UDP port 53, meaning anyone on your network path can observe which domains you are resolving. DoH and DoT encrypt DNS queries, preventing eavesdropping. Modern browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Edge) support DoH natively, and most operating systems now support DoT.

Our What Is My IP Address? Tool includes a DNS resolver test that shows which DNS server is resolving your queries, helping you verify whether your traffic is being routed through your ISP's resolver or a privacy-focused alternative.

How to Check Your IP Address and Run Privacy Diagnostics§

Rather than relying on command-line tools or third-party websites that may log your queries, you can perform a comprehensive IP and privacy check entirely in your browser using the NexaTools What Is My IP Address? Tool.

The tool performs six independent diagnostic checks:

  1. Public IP Lookup: Queries the ipify API over HTTPS to determine your public-facing IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

  2. Geolocation and ISP: Calls the ip-api.com geolocation service to map your IP to city, country, timezone, ISP name, and ASN.

  3. WebRTC Leak Test: Creates an RTCPeerConnection and inspects ICE candidates to determine whether your real IP is exposed through WebRTC.

  4. DNS Resolver Detection: Makes a DNS query to a known domain and identifies which resolver answered, allowing you to verify whether you are using your ISP's default DNS or a privacy-focused alternative.

  5. Browser Network Information: Uses the Network Information API to display your connection type (Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G), downlink speed, and effective bandwidth.

  6. Map Visualization: Embeds an OpenStreetMap tile centered on your geolocation for visual confirmation of where your IP address places you.

All processing happens client-side. No data is sent to any NexaTools server. The external API calls (ipify, ip-api.com) are standard public APIs used by millions of websites, and they receive only the minimum information needed to return a result.

Practical Privacy Tips§

Beyond checking your IP address, here are actionable steps to improve your online privacy:

  1. Use a reputable VPN and verify it is actually working by checking your IP before and after connecting.

  2. Test for WebRTC leaks regularly — a VPN does not protect you if your browser is leaking your real IP through WebRTC.

  3. Switch to encrypted DNS (DoH or DoT) using Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 or Quad9 9.9.9.9 to prevent your ISP from logging every domain you visit.

  4. Be aware of IP-based tracking — advertisers and analytics platforms use your IP as a persistent identifier across sessions, even without cookies.

  5. Check your IP from different networks (home Wi-Fi, mobile data, public Wi-Fi) to understand how your digital footprint changes across environments.

  6. Review browser privacy settings — disable third-party cookies, enable tracking protection, and consider using a privacy-focused browser like Firefox or Brave.

Summary§

Your IP address is the foundation of internet connectivity, but it also serves as a surprisingly detailed fingerprint. It reveals your approximate location, ISP, network type, and — through WebRTC leaks — can expose your real IP even when you believe you are protected by a VPN.

Bookmark the NexaTools What Is My IP Address? Tool and run it periodically to stay informed about what your connection is revealing to the websites you visit. Understanding your IP address is the first step toward taking control of your online privacy.