Ethernet multicast MAC addresses
An Ethernet multicast MAC address identifies receivers that belong to the same multicast group at the data link layer.
IPv4 multicast MAC addresses
As defined by IANA, the most significant 24 bits of an IPv4 multicast MAC address are 0x01005E. Bit 25 is 0, and the other 23 bits are the least significant 23 bits of an IPv4 multicast address.
Figure 6: IPv4-to-MAC address mapping
The most significant four bits of an IPv4 multicast address are fixed at 1110. In an IPv4-to-MAC address mapping, five bits of the IPv4 multicast address are lost. As a result, 32 IPv4 multicast addresses are mapped to the same IPv4 multicast MAC address. A device might receive unwanted multicast data at Layer 2 processing, which needs to be filtered by the upper layer.
IPv6 multicast MAC addresses
As defined by IANA, the most significant 16 bits of an IPv6 multicast MAC address are 0x3333. The least significant 32 bits are mapped from the least significant 32 bits of an IPv6 multicast address. Therefore, the problem of duplicate IPv6-to-MAC address mapping also arises like IPv4-to-MAC address mapping.
Figure 7: IPv6-to-MAC address mapping
