Unicast

In computer networking, unicast is a one-to-one transmission from one point in the network to another point; that is, one sender and one receiver, each identified by a network address.^[1]

Unicast is data transmission from a single sender (red) to a single receiver (green). Other devices on the network (yellow) do not participate in the communication.

Routing schemes
Unicast
Broadcast
Multicast
Anycast

Unicast is in contrast to multicast and broadcast which are one-to-many transmissions.^[2]

Internet Protocol unicast delivery methods such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) are typically used.

See also

• Anycast
• Broadcast, unknown-unicast and multicast traffic
• IP address
• IP multicast
• Routing