MAC Address Lookup
Find the hardware vendor behind a MAC address from its OUI, and decode the address — unicast vs multicast, universal vs locally-administered (randomised). Free, nothing stored.
About MAC addresses
A MAC address uniquely identifies a network interface on the local network. Its first half — the OUI — is assigned by the IEEE to the manufacturer, so it reveals who made the chip (Apple, Intel, Cisco, Samsung…), while the second half is assigned by that vendor to each device. Two flag bits in the first byte say whether the frame is unicast or multicast and whether the address is the real IEEE one or locally administered — the latter is what phones use for MAC randomisation to protect your privacy on Wi-Fi networks.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a MAC address?
A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a unique hardware identifier burned into a network interface — your phone's Wi-Fi, a laptop's Ethernet card, a router, etc. It is 48 bits, usually written as six pairs of hex like A4:83:E7:2C:1B:9F.
What is the OUI and vendor?
The first three bytes are the OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier), assigned by the IEEE to a manufacturer. Looking it up tells you who made the network chip (Apple, Samsung, Cisco, Intel…). The last three bytes are chosen by that vendor to make each device unique.
What do universal and local mean?
The second-lowest bit of the first byte is the U/L bit: universal means the address is the real IEEE-assigned one, locally administered means it was set by software — e.g. MAC randomisation used by phones for privacy, which is why a randomised MAC often has no known vendor.
Why does my phone show a random/unknown vendor?
Modern phones randomise their Wi-Fi MAC per network for privacy. A randomised address has the locally-administered bit set and an OUI that is not registered to any vendor, so the lookup returns no manufacturer — that is expected.
Do you store what I look up?
Only the OUI→vendor result is briefly cached so the tool stays fast; the full address is not stored. For network details see the IP Lookup.