3. An alternative form that is sometimes more convenient when dealing
with a mixed environment of IPv4 and IPv6 nodes is
x:x:x:x:x:x:d.d.d.d, where the 'x's are the hexadecimal values of
the six high-order 16-bit pieces of the address, and the 'd's are
the decimal values of the four low-order 8-bit pieces of the
address (standard IPv4 representation). Examples:
0:0:0:0:0:0:13.1.68.3
0:0:0:0:0:FFFF:129.144.52.38
or in compressed form:
::13.1.68.3
::FFFF:129.144.52.38
So in addition to having the addresses embedded on binary level, you even have that text notation that uses traditional ipv4 dot-notation!
You might ask why they are not more prevalent, but then you will find the practical issues that various transition mechanisms are attempting to solve.
See also the text representation section: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4291.html#section-2.2
So in addition to having the addresses embedded on binary level, you even have that text notation that uses traditional ipv4 dot-notation!You might ask why they are not more prevalent, but then you will find the practical issues that various transition mechanisms are attempting to solve.