Identify the manufacturer behind any MAC address on your network: paste an address in any notation and get the vendor from the official IEEE MA-L registry, the primary OUI block that covers the vast majority of hardware. The tool also decodes what the address itself says: whether it is globally unique or locally administered, unicast or multicast, and — the case that confuses everyone — whether it is a privacy-randomized address that by design has no manufacturer at all.
The registry snapshot is served as a static file from this site and matched entirely in your browser, so the addresses you look up are never transmitted anywhere — appropriate for auditing a client's network inventory. Working in the other direction, the MAC address generator creates valid random addresses for testing. Related network tools: the subnet calculator, IP range expander, and DNS lookup.
Frequently asked questions
How does a MAC address reveal the manufacturer?
The first portion of every factory-assigned MAC address is an OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) that the IEEE sells to hardware makers — a 24-bit MA-L block, plus smaller 28-bit MA-M and 36-bit MA-S blocks for companies needing fewer addresses. This mac address vendor lookup matches your input against the IEEE MA-L registry (the block covering the vast majority of hardware) and tells you which registration matched.
Why does my phone's MAC address show no vendor?
Because it is probably randomized. iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS all generate per-network "private" Wi-Fi addresses with the locally-administered bit set — the second hex digit becomes 2, 6, A, or E. Such addresses are made up by the device on the spot, so no manufacturer registration exists. This tool detects the bit and says so explicitly instead of showing a useless "unknown".
What do the U/L and I/G bits mean?
They are the two lowest bits of the first octet. The I/G bit distinguishes unicast (one receiver) from multicast (a group — like 01:00:5E for IPv4 multicast). The U/L bit distinguishes globally unique, IEEE-assigned addresses from locally administered ones set by software — VMs, randomized Wi-Fi MACs, and admin overrides. The tool decodes and explains both for every address you enter.
Can I look up just a partial MAC address?
Yes — the first 6 hex digits (the OUI, e.g. 3C:22:FB) are enough to identify the vendor, since the remaining digits only number the individual device. Any format works: colons, dashes, Cisco dot notation, or bare hex.
Is my MAC address sent to a server?
No. On first lookup your browser downloads our copy of the IEEE registry (a static file served from this site) and every match happens locally — the addresses you type are never transmitted, logged, or stored anywhere.
How current is the vendor database?
It is a snapshot of the official IEEE MA-L registry, regenerated when we rebuild the site. Brand-new OUI assignments can take a little while to appear, but registrations are effectively permanent, so results for existing hardware do not go stale.