A compression context for a plurality of packets is established with a receiving device. Each of these packets is associated with one or more reliable multicast protocols, such as the Layered Coding Transform (LCT) protocol, the Asynchronous Layered Coding (ALC) protocol, the FLUTE protocol, the MUPPET protocol, and the NACK-Oriented Reliable Multicast (NORM) protocol. Upon establishment of the compression context, a compressed packet is generated for one of the plurality of packets and transmitted to the receiving device. The compressed packet has a reduced number of bits in its header. Upon receipt, the receiving device decompresses the compressed packet based on the compression context.