A multicast forwarding method, wherein the method is applied to a bit index explicit replication BIER network, and the method is characterized in that it comprises: determining, by a bit-forwarding egress router BFER according to information that is about a multicast group in a multicast receiver list and that is obtained in advance, an Internet Protocol IP address of a registration router that supports the multicast group, wherein the registration router has a capability of processing a multicast registration message; generating, by the BFER, a BFER registration message according to the information about the multicast group and the IP address of the registration router, the BFER registration message is a Protocol Independent Multicast PIM join message, wherein the BFER registration message is comprised in the multicast registration message, the BFER registration message comprises the information about the multicast group, a destination IP address of the BFER registration message is the IP address of the registration router, and a source IP address of the BFER registration message is an IP address of the BFER; and sending, by the BFER, the BFER registration message to the registration router; wherein the method further comprises: generating, by the BFER, a BFER deregistration message after it is detected that an entry comprised in the multicast receiver list is deleted, wherein the deleted entry comprises information about a multicast group, and the BFER deregistration message comprises the information about the multicast group in the deleted entry and the IP address of the BFER; and sending, by the BFER, the BFER deregistration message to the registration router. determining, by a bit-forwarding egress router BFER according to information that is about a multicast group in a multicast receiver list and that is obtained in advance, an Internet Protocol IP address of a registration router that supports the multicast group, wherein the registration router has a capability of processing a multicast registration message; generating, by the BFER, a BFER registration message according to the information about the multicast group and the IP address of the registration router, the BFER registration message is a Protocol Independent Multicast PIM join message, wherein the BFER registration message is comprised in the multicast registration message, the BFER registration message comprises the information about the multicast group, a destination IP address of the BFER registration message is the IP address of the registration router, and a source IP address of the BFER registration message is an IP address of the BFER; and sending, by the BFER, the BFER registration message to the registration router; wherein the method further comprises: generating, by the BFER, a BFER deregistration message after it is detected that an entry comprised in the multicast receiver list is deleted, wherein the deleted entry comprises information about a multicast group, and the BFER deregistration message comprises the information about the multicast group in the deleted entry and the IP address of the BFER; and sending, by the BFER, the BFER deregistration message to the registration router. generating, by the BFER, a BFER deregistration message after it is detected that an entry comprised in the multicast receiver list is deleted, wherein the deleted entry comprises information about a multicast group, and the BFER deregistration message comprises the information about the multicast group in the deleted entry and the IP address of the BFER; and sending, by the BFER, the BFER deregistration message to the registration router.