What is Broadcast | Uni-cast | Multicast | Difference between Broadcast, Unicast, Multicast.

Unicast :- When a user sends an information at the only destination then it is called Unicast.

But in Unicast if you want to send a packet to multiple locations then you have to create a new Unicast one by one every time. 

Unicast sends an information to one device each time. With below example you can understand that it sending an information to only one device.

Unicast Diagram

Broadcast :- In network terms when a sender sends an information in the network and all the receivers receive that information called broadcast. 

Broadcast is basically done for one to all. In this situation there is only one sender but the information sent to all other connected devices. 

Computer connected in the same segment network will receive the broadcast massage.

Note- Router do not broadcast the traffic. It receives the broadcast traffic from other devices but do not forward it to other devices. In below example there is one sender and multiple receivers.

Broadcast Diagram

Multicast :- In multicast information sent to one or multiple device at the same time. One device can send a packet to the selected devices only. In this case there is multiple senders and multiple receivers at the same time. 

In multicast sender sends only a copy of data but it receives to a group of computer. Multicast do not sends an information to all the network devices as the broadcast do. It sends an information only to the selected group or devices.

Multicast use IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) to send an information to the group members.

Note- TCP use only Unicast. Multicast is performed by UDP only. Below is an example of Multicast.

Multicast Diagram