IP multicast

IP multicast is a method of sending Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams to a group of interested receivers in a single transmission. It is the IP-specific form of multicast and is used for streaming media and other network applications. It uses specially reserved multicast address blocks in IPv4 and IPv6.

Protocols associated with IP multicast include Internet Group Management Protocol, Protocol Independent Multicast and Multicast VLAN Registration. IGMP snooping is used to manage IP multicast traffic on layer-2 networks.

IP multicast is described in RFC 1112. IP multicast was first standardized in 1986.^[1] Its specifications have been augmented in RFC 4604 to include group management and in RFC 5771 to include administratively scoped addresses.