Ethernet is a family of link-layer technologies for carrying frames on local networks.

Modern Ethernet links usually connect a host to a switch. A frame contains destination and source MAC addresses, a type identifying the payload protocol, payload data and a frame check sequence used to detect corruption.

Ethernet distinguishes several delivery scopes. A unicast frame targets one MAC address; a broadcast frame targets every station in the local broadcast domain; and multicast addresses selected groups.

Ethernet does not route packets across the Internet. It solves the narrower problem of local frame delivery. If an IP packet must cross a router, each hop may use a different Ethernet frame around the same network-layer packet.

This separation lets Ethernet evolve independently of IP while still carrying IP traffic.