Which protocol defines the structure of an Internet address?

The Internet Protocol (IP) is the foundational protocol responsible for defining how devices on a network communicate and how data packets are addressed and routed across networks. Specifically, IP provides a unique addressing scheme that allows each device connected to the Internet to have a distinct identifier known as an IP address. This is crucial for ensuring that data sent over the Internet reaches the correct destination.

IP addresses are structured in a specific format, which can be either IPv4 or IPv6. IPv4 addresses are in a numerical format separated by dots, such as 192.168.1.1, while IPv6 addresses are designed to accommodate the growing number of devices on the Internet, formatted with hexadecimal notation and colons.

Protocols like TCP focus on delivering reliable communication and data integrity, while HTTP and FTP are application-layer protocols that operate on top of IP, facilitating specific types of data exchange like web browsing or file transfer. They rely on the underlying structure provided by IP to function but do not themselves define Internet addressing. Thus, the role of defining the structure of an Internet address is specifically attributed to the Internet Protocol (IP).