In one embodiment, a method comprises creating, in a computing network, a loop-free routing topology comprising a plurality of routing arcs for reaching multicast listeners from a multicast source, each routing arc comprising a first network device as a first end of the routing arc, a second network device as a second end of the routing arc, and at least a third network device configured for receiving from each of the first and second network devices a copy of a multicast packet originated from the multicast source; and causing the multicast packet to be propagated throughout the loop-free routing topology based on the first and second ends of each routing arc forwarding the corresponding copy into the corresponding routing arc.