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CIDR – Classless Inter-Domain Routing

Webopedia Staff
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:37 am

Short for Classless Inter-Domain Routing, an IP addressing scheme that replaces the older system based on classes A, B, and C. With CIDR, a single IP address can be used to designate many unique IP addresses. A CIDR IP address looks like a normal IP address except that it ends with a slash followed by a number, called the IP network prefix.For example:

172.200.0.0/16

The IP network prefix specifies how many addresses are covered by the CIDR address, with lower numbers covering more addresses. An IP network prefix of /12,for example, can be used to address 1,048,576 former Class C addresses.

CIDR addresses reduce the size of routing tables and make more IP addresses available within organizations.