How unicast, multicast, anycast, and broadcast deliver traffic to different recipients and network scopes.
Traffic type describes who should receive a transmission. Choose the narrowest distribution model that meets the delivery requirement.
| Pattern | Delivery model | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Unicast | One sender to one receiver | Ordinary client-server traffic |
| Multicast | One sender to subscribed receivers | Group distribution where multicast is supported |
| Anycast | One logical address announced from several locations | Nearest available service instance |
| Broadcast | One sender to all hosts in a Layer 2 broadcast domain | Local discovery and some address-resolution functions |
Broadcast traffic is normally confined by routing boundaries. Multicast membership and anycast routing require deliberate network support; they are not interchangeable with broadcast.