In computing, physical address refers to a memory address or the location of a memory cell in the main memory. It is used by both hardware and software for accessing data. Software, however, does not use physical addresses directly; instead, it accesses memory using a virtual address. A hardware component known as the memory management unit (MMU) is responsible for translating a virtual address to a physical address.

In networking, physical address refers to a computer's MAC address, which is a unique identifier associated with a network adapter that is used for identifying a computer in a network.