To shorten an IPv6 address, you can replace consecutive quartets of all 0s with what?

In IPv6 addressing, the ability to shorten an address that contains consecutive quartets of zeros is an essential feature for simplifying notation. You can utilize a double colon (::) to represent one or more groups of consecutive 16-bit zero blocks. This notation can only appear once in a given IPv6 address to avoid ambiguity.

For example, if an IPv6 address has a segment like this: 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001, it can be shortened to 2001:0db8::1 by using the double colon. This significantly enhances readability and ease of use, particularly when dealing with lengthy IPv6 addresses that frequently contain multiple zero blocks.

While the other options, such as a single colon, a dash, or a zero, do not serve the same purpose in the context of representing consecutive zero quartets in IPv6, only the double colon offers a standardized method for this specific requirement.