IRC
protocol for real-time Internet chat and messaging
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages and chat and data transfer, including file sharing.
IRC is an application layer protocol that works on a client–server model. Users connect, using a client that may be a web app, a standalone desktop program, or part of a larger program, to an IRC server, which may be part of a larger IRC network. Examples include Mibbit, KiwiIRC and mIRC.
IRC usage has been declining steadily since 2003, losing 60 percent of its users by 2012. as of 2026, the top 100 IRC networks served more than 162,000 users at a time.
History
IRC was created by Jarkko Oikarinen in August 1988 to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser Talk) on a BBS called OuluBox at the University of Oulu in Finland, where he was working at the Department of Computer Science. He had intended to extend the BBS software he administered with Usenet-style news, real-time discussion and similar features, and implemented the chat part first, using code borrowed from friends. The first IRC network was running on a single server named tolsun.oulu.fi. Oikarinen found inspiration in a chat system known as Bitnet Relay, which operated on the BITNET.
Jyrki Kuoppala pushed Oikarinen to ask Oulu University to free the IRC code so that it also could be run outside of Oulu.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “IRC” as protocol for real-time Internet chat and messaging. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as protocol for real-time Internet chat and messaging. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q73. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003, 2012, 2026 and 1988.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “IRC” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.