Multicasting

From Computing and Software Wiki

Multicasting is a type of internet addressing system where only interested receivers are sent the requested information. This was created to be a more efficient means of broadcasting where information would be sent to every node in the network. Multicasting uses the most efficient routes to transfer the data and only copies the information being sent when a fork in the route occurs. Prior to multicasting, if a user needed to send the same data to N users, the user would need to copy that data N times and send it to each receiver. This creates a high amount of strain on servers, as well as large amounts of traffic over the network. Multicasting however needs only one transmission of this data, and will optimize the path that the data takes to reach each desired user.