Which statement about multicast transmission is true?

Which statement about multicast transmission is true?

• A. A single packet can be sent to a group of hosts.
• B. Multicast is used to broadcast to all hosts on the network.
• C. The range 224.0.0.0 to 224.0.0.255 is reserved for unicast routing.
• D. Routers do not participate in multicast.

Answer: (A)

Multicast transmission delivers one data stream to multiple receivers that have joined a multicast group. A single packet sent to a multicast address is replicated only where there are listeners, so the network avoids sending separate copies to every host. That’s why saying a single packet can be sent to a group of hosts captures how multicast works. It’s not broadcast to all hosts on the network; broadcast goes to every device in the broadcast domain, while multicast targets only those that have joined the group. The address range 224.0.0.0 to 224.0.0.255 is reserved for local network multicast use, not for unicast routing, and some of those addresses have special local purposes. Routers do participate in multicast—they forward multicast traffic across subnets using multicast routing protocols so listeners on different networks can receive the data.

Multicast transmission delivers one data stream to multiple receivers that have joined a multicast group. A single packet sent to a multicast address is replicated only where there are listeners, so the network avoids sending separate copies to every host. That’s why saying a single packet can be sent to a group of hosts captures how multicast works.

It’s not broadcast to all hosts on the network; broadcast goes to every device in the broadcast domain, while multicast targets only those that have joined the group. The address range 224.0.0.0 to 224.0.0.255 is reserved for local network multicast use, not for unicast routing, and some of those addresses have special local purposes. Routers do participate in multicast—they forward multicast traffic across subnets using multicast routing protocols so listeners on different networks can receive the data.