In embodiments, multicast packets including, but not limited to, Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) multicast packets, are forwarded in a network. An independent lookup operation is performed on each destination node identified in the received packet to determine a nexthop to which to forward a copy of the packet. Typically, some or possibly all of these lookup operations are performed in parallel, in contrast to the sequential lookup and bit masking operations of previous BIER packet forwarding specifications and implementations. In embodiments, the selection of a nexthop for a destination node is made from a set of two or more nexthop nodes on different Equal-Cost MultiPaths (ECMPs). In embodiments, compact data structures are used in determining how to forward the received multicast packet, with these compact data structures providing requisite forwarding information without allocating space to unassigned destination nodes.
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