Multicast什麼意思

Multicast is a network communication technique that allows a single message to be delivered to a group of destinations simultaneously. It is a type of network communication that is designed to send a message to a specific group of hosts, rather than to a single host or to all hosts on a network.

In multicast communication, a multicast group is defined, and any host that wants to receive messages sent to that group joins the group. When a host sends a message to the multicast group, the message is only sent once, but it is delivered to all hosts that are members of the group.

Multicast is often used in applications where a single source needs to send information to a potentially large number of receivers, such as in videoconferencing, live streaming, and content distribution networks. It can be more efficient than other types of network communication, such as unicast (sending a message to a single destination) or broadcast (sending a message to all destinations), because it can reduce the amount of network traffic and the load on the source host.

Multicast communication is supported by many network protocols and technologies, including the Internet Protocol (IP), which defines a multicast addressing scheme that is used to identify multicast groups.