a method and apparatus are described for recovering from loss of an original data packet , including detecting data packet loss , joining a delayed multicast group , receiving a delayed data packet and using the delayed data packet to recover the original data packet that was lost . the delayed data packet is one of a copy of the original data packet , a copy of the original data packet encoded at a lower bit rate or a parity packet . also described are a method and apparatus for staggercasting including encoding and compressing a first data sequence , packetizing the compressed encoded data sequence to form a data packet , multicasting the data packet to a first multicast group , encoding and compressing a second data sequence , packetizing the compressed encoded second data sequence to form a packet and multicasting the packet delayed by an offset time to a second multicast group .