IGMP versions and interoperability requirements

If routers run different versions of IGMP, they negotiates the lowest common version of IGMP that is supported on their subnet and operate in that version.

Version 1

Specified in RFC 1112, Host extensions for IP Multicasting, was the first widely deployed version and the first version to become an Internet standard.

Version 2

Specified in RFC 2236, Internet Group Management Protocol, added support for low leave latency, that is, a reduction in the time it takes for a multicast router to learn that there are no longer any members of a group present on an attached network.

Version 3

Specified in RFC 3376, Internet Group Management Protocol, adds support for source filtering, that is, the ability for a system to report interest in receiving packets only from specific source addresses, as required to support Source-Specific Multicast (See Source Specific Multicast (SSM)), or from all but specific source addresses, sent to a multicast address.

IGMPv3 must keep state per group per attached network. This group state consists of a filter-mode, a list of sources, and various timers. For each attached network running IGMP, a multicast router records the necessary reception state for that network.