IEEE 802.3
IEEE 802.3 is a working group and a collection of standards defining the physical layer and data link layer's media access control of wired Ethernet. The standards are produced by the working group of the Institute of [Electrical and Electronics Engineers]. This set of standards generally applies to local area networks and has some wide area network applications. Physical connections are made between network nodes and, usually, various network infrastructure devices by various types of copper cables or optical fiber.
802.3 standards support the IEEE 802.1 network architecture.
802.3 also defines a LAN access method using carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection.
Communication standards
The IEEE 802 Local and Metropolitan Area Networks Committee was formed in 1980 to create a single standard for the lower layers of a local or metropolitan area network. At the time, there were three approaches to local area networking: IBM’s token ring, the DEC-Intel-Xerox Ethernet, and the token bus. Because the group could not agree on a single approach, three working groups were formed, 802.3 for Ethernet, 802.4 for token bus, and 802.5 for token ring. An Ethernet network had already been implemented at Xerox Parc to connect Alto computers to a laser printer in 1973. In 1980, Digital, Intel, and Xerox published a “standard” called the DIX standard. In 1982, they published a second version. The first IEEE Standard for the CSMA/CD approach was based on the DIX standard. The original IEEE standard for Ethernet was named"IEEE Standards for Local Area Networks: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications” and subsequent standards were named similarly, until 2012 when it became simply “Standard for Ethernet”. This was because of sensitivities around using a commercial product as the basis for a standard.
| Ethernet standard | IEEE approval date | Description |
| 802.3-1985 | 1983-06 | 10BASE5 10 Mbit/s over thick coax. First edition of the IEEE 802.3 standard. Approved by IEEE in 1983, approved by ANSI in 1984, and published in 1985. Same as Ethernet II except Type field is replaced by Length, and an 802.2 LLC header follows the 802.3 header. Based on the CSMA/CD media access method. |
| 802.3a | 1985-11 | 10BASE2 10 Mbit/s over thin coax |
| 802.3b | 1985-09 | 10BROAD36 |
| 802.3c | 1985-12 | 10 Mbit/s repeater specifications |
| 802.3d | 1987-12 | Fiber-optic inter-repeater link |
| 802.3e | 1987-06 | 1BASE5 or StarLAN, first use of twisted pair cabling, 1 Mbit/s, maximum reach of 250 to 500 m |
| 802.3h | 1990-09 | 10 Mbit/s layer management, DTEs |
| 802.3i | 1990-09 | 10BASE-T 10 Mbit/s over twisted pair |
| 802.3j | 1992-09 | 10BASE-F 10 Mbit/s over optical fiber |
| 802.3k | 1992-09 | 10 Mbit/s layer management, repeaters |
| 802.3m | 1995-09 | Maintenance |
| 802.3n | 1995-09 | Maintenance |
| 802.3q | 1993-06 | GDMO format for Layer Managed Objects |
| 802.3r | 1996-07 | 10BASE5 Medium Attachment Unit PICS |
| 802.3s | 1995-09 | Maintenance |
| 802.3t | 1995-06 | 120 Ω informative annex for 10BASE-T |
| 802.3u | 1995-06 | 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4, 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbit/s with autonegotiation |
| 802.3v | 1995-12 | 150 Ω informative annex for 10BASE-T |
| 802.3x | 1997-03 | Full duplex and flow control; also incorporates DIX framing, so there's no longer a DIX/802.3 split |
| 802.3y | 1997-03 | 100BASE-T2 100 Mbit/s over voice-grade twisted pair |
| 802.3z | 1998-06 | 1000BASE-X 1 Gbit/s Ethernet over optical fiber |
| 802.3-1998 | 1998-06 | A revision of the base standard incorporating earlier amendments and errata |
| 802.3ab | 1999-06 | 1000BASE-T 1 Gbit/s Ethernet over twisted pair |
| 802.3ac | 1998-09 | Max frame size extended to 1522 bytes. The Q-tag includes 802.1Q VLAN information and 802.1p priority information. |
| 802.3ad | 2000-03 | Link aggregation for parallel links, since moved to IEEE 802.1AX |
| 802.3-2002 | 2002-01 | A revision of the base standard incorporating the three prior amendments and errata |
| 802.3ae | 2002-06 | 10 Gigabit Ethernet over fiber: 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-SW, 10GBASE-LW, 10GBASE-EW |
| 802.3af | 2003-06 | Power over Ethernet |
| 802.3ah | 2004-06 | Ethernet in the first mile |
| 802.3ak | 2004-02 | 10GBASE-CX4 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over twinaxial cables |
| 802.3-2005 | 2005-06 | A revision of the base standard incorporating the four prior amendments and errata |
| 802.3an | 2006-06 | 10GBASE-T 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair |
| 802.3ap | 2007-03 | Backplane Ethernet |
| 802.3aq | 2006-09 | 10GBASE-LRM 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over multimode fiber |
| P802.3ar | canceled | Congestion management |
| 802.3as | 2006-09 | Frame expansion |
| 802.3at | 2009-09 | Power over Ethernet enhancements |
| 802.3au | 2006-06 | Isolation requirements for Power over Ethernet |
| 802.3av | 2009-09 | 10 Gbit/s EPON |
| 802.3aw | 2007-06 | Fixed an equation in the publication of 10GBASE-T |
| 802.3ax | 2008-11 | Link aggregation – moved to and approved as 802.1AX |
| 802.3-2008 | 2008-12 | A revision of the base standard incorporating the 802.3an/ap/aq/as amendments, two corrigenda and errata |
| 802.3az | 2010-09 | Energy-Efficient Ethernet |
| 802.3ba | 2010-06 | 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet. 40 Gbit/s over a 1 m backplane, 10 m Cu cable assembly and 100 m of multi-mode optical fiber, and 100 Gbit/s over 10 m of Cu cable assembly, 100 m of multi-mode optical fiber and 40 km of single-mode optical fiber |
| 802.3-2008/Cor 1 | 2009-12 | Increase Pause Reaction Delay timings which are insufficient for 10 Gbit/s |
| 802.3bc | 2009-09 | Move and update Ethernet-related TLVs, previously specified in Annex F of IEEE 802.1AB to 802.3 |
| 802.3bd | 2011-06 | Priority-based Flow Control. An amendment by the IEEE 802.1 Data Center Bridging Task Group to develop an amendment to IEEE Std 802.3 to add a MAC Control Frame to support IEEE 802.1Qbb Priority-based Flow Control. |
| 802.3.1 | 2011-05 | MIB definitions for Ethernet. It consolidates the Ethernet-related MIBs present in Annex 30A&B, various IETF RFCs, and 802.1AB annex F into one master document with a machine-readable extract. |
| 802.3bf | 2011-05 | Provides an accurate indication of the transmission and reception initiation times of certain packets as required to support IEEE P802.1AS |
| 802.3bg | 2011-03 | Provide a 40 Gbit/s PMD which is optically compatible with existing carrier SMF 40 Gbit/s client interfaces. |
| 802.3-2012 | 2012-08 | A revision of the base standard incorporating the 802.3at/av/az/ba/bc/bd/bf/bg amendments, corrigenda and errata. |
| 802.3bj | 2014-06 | Defines a four-lane 100 Gbit/s backplane PHY for operation over links consistent with copper traces on "improved FR-4" with lengths up to at least 1 m and a four-lane 100 Gbit/s PHY for operation over links consistent with copper twinaxial cables with lengths up to at least 5 m |
| 802.3bk | 2013-08 | This amendment to IEEE Std 802.3 defines the physical-layer specifications and management parameters for EPON operation on point-to-multipoint passive optical networks supporting extended power budget classes of PX30, PX40, PRX40, and PR40 PMDs. |
| 802.3bm | 2015-02 | 100G/40G Ethernet for optical fiber |
| 802.3bn | 2016-09 | 10G-EPON and 10GPASS-XR, passive optical networks over coax |
| 802.3bp | 2016-06 | 1000BASE-T1 – Gigabit Ethernet over a single twisted pair for automotive & industrial environments |
| 802.3bq | 2016-06 | 25GBASE-T/40GBASE-T Ethernet for four-pair balanced–twisted-pair cabling with two connectors over 30 m distances |
| 802.3br | 2016-06 | Specification and Management Parameters for Interspersing Express Traffic |
| 802.3bs | 2017-12 | 200GbE over single-mode fiber and 400GbE over optical physical media |
| 802.3bt | 2018-09 | Third generation Power over Ethernet with up to 100 W using four pairs in balanced–twisted-pair cabling, including 10GBASE-T, lower standby power and specific enhancements to support IoT applications. |
| 802.3bu | 2016-12 | Power over Data Lines (PoDL) for single twisted pair Ethernet |
| 802.3bv | 2017-02 | Gigabit Ethernet over plastic optical fiber (POF) |
| 802.3bw | 2015-10 | 100BASE-T1100 Mbit/s Ethernet over a single twisted pair for automotive applications |
| 802.3-2015 | 2015-09 | 802.3bxA new consolidated revision of the 802.3 standard including amendments 802.3bk/bj/bm |
| 802.3by | 2016-06 | Optical fiber, twinax and backplane 25 Gigabit Ethernet |
| 802.3bz | 2016-09 | 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T2.5 Gigabit/s and 5 Gigabit/s Ethernet over Cat-5e/Cat-6 twisted-pair cable |
| 802.3ca | 2020-06 | 25G-EPON and 50G-EPONDownstream/Upstream rates of 25/10, 25/25, 50/10, 50/25, 50/50 Gbit/s over Ethernet Passive Optical Networks |
| 802.3cb | 2018-09 | 2.5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s Operation over Backplane |
| 802.3cc | 2017-12 | 25 Gbit/s over Single-Mode Fiber |
| 802.3cd | 2018-12 | Media Access Control Parameters for 50 Gbit/s and Physical Layers and Management Parameters for 50, 100, and 200 Gbit/s Operation |
| 802.3ce | 2017-03 | Multilane Timestamping |
| 802.3.2-2019 | 2019-03 | 802.3cf, YANG Data Model Definitions |
| 802.3cg | 2019-11 | 10BASE-T1L and 10BASE-T1S10 Mbit/s Single–twisted-pair Ethernet |
| 802.3ch | 2020-06 | MultiGigBASE-T1 Automotive Ethernet over 15 m with optional PoDL |
| 802.3-2018 | 2018-08 | 802.3cj802.3-2015 maintenance, incorporating recent amendments bn/bp/bq/br/bs/bu/bv/bw/by/bz/cc/ce |
| 802.3ck | 2022-09 | 100, 200, and 400 Gbit/s Ethernet using 100 Gbit/s lanes, chaired by Beth Kochuparambil |
| 802.3cm | 2020-01 | 400 Gbit/s over multimode fiber |
| 802.3cn | 2019-11 | 50 Gbit/s, 100 Gbit/s, 200 Gbit/s, and 400 Gbit/s over single-mode fiber and DWDM |
| 802.3cp | 2021-06 | 10/25/50 Gbit/s single-strand optical access with at least 10/20/40 km reach, chaired by Frank Effenberger |
| 802.3cq | 2020-01 | Power over Ethernet over two pairs |
| 802.3cr | 2021-02 | Isolation |
| 802.3cs | 2022-09 | "Super-PON"Increased-reach, 10 Gbit/s optical access with at least 50 km reach and 1:64 split ratio per wavelength pair, 16 wavelength pairs, chaired by Claudio DeSanti |
| 802.3ct | 2021-06 | 100 Gbit/s over DWDM systems, chaired by John D'Ambrosia |
| 802.3cu | 2021-02 | 100 Gbit/s and 400 Gbit/s over SMF using 100 Gbit/s lanes |
| 802.3cv | 2021-05 | Power over Ethernet maintenance, chaired by Chad Jones |
| 802.3cw | canceled | 400 Gbit/s over DWDM Systemschaired by John D'Ambrosia, withdrawn |
| 802.3cx | 2023-03 | Improved PTP time-stamping accuracy, chaired by Steve Gorshe |
| 802.3cy | 2023-06 | MultiGigBASE-T1 25 Gbit/s electrical automotive Ethernet, chaired by Steve Carlson |
| 802.3cz | 2023-03 | Multi-gigabit optical automotive Ethernet, chaired by Bob Grow |
| 802.3da | 10BASE-T1S 10 Mb/s operation over single–balanced-pair multi-drop segments, extends length up to 50 mscheduled for mid 2025, chaired by Chad Jones | |
| 802.3db | 2022-09 | 100 Gbit/s, 200 Gbit/s, and 400 Gbit/s operation over optical fiber using 100 Gbit/s signaling, chaired by Robert Lingle |
| 802.3-2022 | 2022-07 | 802.3dc802.3-2018 maintenance, incorporating recent amendments bt/ca/cb/cd/cg/ch/cm/cn/cp/cq/cr/ct/cu/cv, chaired by Adam Healey |
| 802.3dd | 2022-06 | Power over Data Lines of single-pair Ethernet maintenance, chaired by George Zimmerman |
| 802.3de | 2022-09 | Time synchronization for point-to-point single-pair Ethernet, chaired by George Zimmerman |
| 802.3df | 2024-02 | 200 Gb/s, 400 Gb/s and 800 Gb/s using 100 Gbit/s lanes, chaired by John D’Ambrosia |
| 802.3dg | 100BASE-T1L scheduled for mid 2025, chaired by George Zimmerman | |
| 802.3dh | canceled | Multi-gigabit-per-second automotive Ethernet over plastic optical fiber, chaired by Yuji Watanabe |
| 802.3dj | 200 Gb/s, 400 Gb/s, 800 Gb/s and 1.6 Tbit/s using 200 Gbit/s lanesscheduled for spring 2026, chaired by John D'Ambrosia. Also known as "Ultra Ethernet" in the version promoted by the Ultra Ethernet Consortium. UALink is based on its PHY. | |
| 802.3dk | Greater than 50 Gbit/s bidirectional optical access, chaired by Yuanqiu Luo | |
| 802.3dm | Asymmetrical Electrical Automotive Ethernet, chaired by Jon Lewis | |
| 802.3dn | 2024-09 | 802.3-2022/Cor 1 Multi-Gigabit Automotive MDI Return Loss, chaired by Brett McClellan |
| 802.3dp | Cabling Restrictions for Single Pair Power over Ethernet Task Force | |
| 802.3dr | 802.3-2022/Cor 2 Optical Automotive Ethernet TDFOM Task Force | |
| 802.3ds | 200 Gbit/s per wavelength MMF PHYs with 200/400/800/1600 Gbit/s overall and 30 or 50 m reach, scheduled for late 2027 |