What is the purpose of multicast addresses?

The purpose of multicast addresses is to send data to a specific group of devices. Multicasting allows a sender to transmit a single copy of the data to multiple receivers who are interested in receiving that particular data stream, rather than sending a separate copy to each destination. This is efficient for applications like streaming video or audio where the same content is distributed simultaneously to multiple users.

In the context of networking, multicast addresses are specifically designed for this purpose, which distinguishes them from unicast (sending data to a single destination) and broadcast (sending data to all devices on a network) addresses. By targeting a group rather than individual devices, multicasting optimizes bandwidth and reduces unnecessary network traffic. The other options, such as point-to-point communication, do not align with the function of multicast addressing, as they relate to one-to-one communication methods.