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DisplayPort vs HDMI: What is the difference?

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DisplayPort and HDMI^TM are two distinct standards for transmitting video and audio from a player to a display. But what is – apart from the clearly distinct connectors – the difference between DisplayPort and HDMI^TM? After all they were designed to do the same thing, right? In this article we try to give you some advice…

There are a lot of examples in technology history of multiple competing standards that were on the market simultaneously. Just think about the video recorder standards war in the early 1980s between Video 2000, VHS and Betamax. For the youngsters amongst us, VHS finally won mainly because of its longer recording time and its open licensing, which led to lower prices. Support from the adult movie industry is often mentioned too, although opinions differ on how much it mattered. Later, there was the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD, which ended in 2008 when Toshiba stopped making HD DVD players.

DisplayPort or HDMI: who is who?

So is there also a format war between DisplayPort and HDMI^TM going on? Not exactly. While both HDMI and DisplayPort have the same objective, they were in fact conceived under different constellations.

HDMI^TM (short for High-Definition Multimedia Interface) was introduced in 2003 by a consortium of (mainly) display manufacturers, including Sony, Philips, Panasonic, and Toshiba. These are large corporations that primarily target purely image driven applications. This is why you will find HDMI^TM ports most commonly on appliances like television sets, gaming consoles, projectors and home computers.

A few years later (2006), another large consortium of PC and chip manufacturers worked to create DisplayPort (DP), a follow-up of the older VGA and DVI standards. The main focus was computer displays, graphics cards and professional IT equipment, so more data centered markets.

Technical and functional comparison: DisplayPort vs. HDMI

The table below compares the latest standards. Keep in mind that the products you can buy today often lag behind the newest specification.

Technical and Functional Comparison: DisplayPort vs. HDMI
Feature / Specification	DisplayPort (DP)	HDMI
Latest Standard	DisplayPort 2.1b, which adds the DP80LL active cable	HDMI^TM 2.2 (specification released in June 2025). HDMI^TM 2.1b is the version in current products
Max Raw Bandwidth	Up to 80 Gbps (UHBR20 mode)	Up to 96 Gbps with HDMI^TM 2.2 (Ultra96), 48 Gbps with HDMI^TM 2.1 (Fixed Rate Link)
Usable bandwidth after encoding overhead	77.37 Gbps (UHBR20)	About 42.6 Gbps with HDMITM 2.1 and about 85 Gbps with HDMI^TM 2.2
Max Uncompressed Resolution	Up to 8K @ 60 Hz in full 4:4:4 color and 4K @ 240 Hz with UHBR20	HDMI^TM 2.2: 8K @ 60 Hz and 4K @ 240 Hz in full 4:4:4 color. HDMI^TM 2.1: 4K @ 120 Hz, while 8K @ 60 Hz needs 4:2:0 color or compression
Multi-Monitor Support	Supported natively via Multi-Stream Transport (MST) / daisy-chaining	Not supported (requires an external splitter or one output per display)
Audio Return Channel	No equivalent (Audio flows unidirectionally from host to display)	ARC / eARC (sends audio back to soundbars or receivers)
Physical Connector Type	20-pin rectangular connector with mechanical latching mechanism. Also available as Mini DisplayPort and over USB-C	19-pin friction-fit connector (Type-A standard, Type-C mini, Type-D micro)
Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)	VESA Adaptive-Sync, AMD FreeSync, NVIDIA G-Sync	HDMI VRR, AMD FreeSync, NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible

Connectors: what a difference a pin makes

The 19 pins HDMI^TM-connectors are actually available in 5 shapes, but only 3 of them are commonly seen: the well-known Type A (standard HDMI^TM, mainly used for TVs, projectors and laptops), Type C (mini HDMI^TM, commonly found on cameras, tablets and some laptops), and Type D (micro HDMI^TM, for tablets, smartphones and action cameras).

The lesser known Type B (29 pins) was designed for dual-link applications, but you will hardly ever come across it. Type E has a locking tab to keep the cable from vibrating loose in automotive applications. The other HDMI^TM connectors commonly use friction to keep the plug in the socket – although sometimes locking mechanisms are used that prevent the cable from pulling loose. Such mechanisms are a lot more common in DisplayPort solutions.

DisplayPort connectors have 20 pins. There are two sizes available: the standard DisplayPort and a smaller alternative made by Apple called Mini DisplayPort. The latter looks the same as the port on Thunderbolt 1 and 2. Since Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt uses the USB-C connector, which can also carry DisplayPort signals through DisplayPort Alt Mode. As a result, on many compact devices DisplayPort comes over a USB-C port. Not every USB-C port can output video though, so look for the DisplayPort or Thunderbolt logo, or check the specifications.

Though most full-size DisplayPort connectors have a locking mechanism that prevents them from being disconnected accidentally, this feature is not required by the official specification.

Resolution and bandwidth

Every new version of both the HDMI^TM and DisplayPort standards typically introduce some minor new features, and higher resolution and bandwidth.

This however does not mean that a new display always supports the latest version of the standard. It doesn't make much sense to include a standard that supports 8K resolution on an HD display. The most important thing is that the standard matches the needs of the display. If not, you will be paying more for something you cannot use.

Today’s most common version (for video wall displays), DisplayPort 1.2, supports video resolutions of up to 3840 x 2160 pixels, at a refresh rate of 60 Hz. The official name for this resolution is by the way UHD, but the term 4K is often used as well. In the movie industry 4K implies a resolution of 4096 x 2160, by the way. It also supports all common 3D video formats. The maximum bandwidth to be sent through a DP 1.2 cable is 17.28 Gbps. DisplayPort 1.4, supporting 5120 x 2880 @60Hz at a bandwidth of 25.92 Gbps, is found on many monitors and graphics cards today. It also adds Display Stream Compression (DSC), a visually lossless method that makes 8K at 60 Hz possible over the same cable.

The most used HDMI^TM-version for years, HDMI^TM 2.0, features UHD resolution at 60 Hz and a bandwidth of 14.4 Gbps^[1]. It is still very common in professional equipment. In other words, it is more important to look at the version number (on both the source and the display) than to compare DisplayPort with HDMI^TM.

It is more important to look at the version number (on both the source and the display) than to compare DisplayPort with HDMI^TM

Meanwhile, HDMITM 2.1 has been launched, supporting 4K at 120 Hz or 8K at 60 Hz, and offering 48 Gbps speeds. This standard has since become common in consumer products such as TVs, game consoles and graphics cards. Keep in mind that 8K at 60 Hz over HDMITM 2.1 relies on 4:2:0 color or compression. In June 2025, the HDMI Forum released HDMITM 2.2, which doubles the bandwidth to 96 Gbps. Ultra96 cables are on sale already, but the first devices are expected in 2027.

DisplayPort 2.0 (since updated to 2.1), boasting 10,240 x 4320 resolution and a whopping 77.4 Gbps bandwidth, is no longer a promise on paper. Monitors and graphics cards with DisplayPort 2.1 are on the market today.

Same version, different speed

A version number does not tell the whole story. DisplayPort 2.1 covers three speed tiers: UHBR10 (40 Gbps), UHBR13.5 (54 Gbps) and UHBR20 (80 Gbps), so a “2.1” label does not guarantee the top speed. HDMITM 2.2 works the same way: the Ultra96 name can stand for 64, 80 or 96 Gbps. Check the exact figure on the spec sheet, on both the source and the display.

It can make a real difference. Uncompressed 4K at 240 Hz in 10-bit HDR needs UHBR20, while UHBR13.5 stops at roughly 187 Hz without compression. Not everyone needs that, because many DisplayPort 1.4 monitors deliver a similar signal with DSC.

Audio features: facing the music

Both HDMITM and DisplayPort support multichannel digital audio: up to 8 channels at up to 24 bit and 192 kHz in earlier versions, and up to 32 channels in current ones. The main difference is that HDMITM features an audio return channel (ARC). This means that not only the source device (usually an AV-receiver) can send audio to the television set, but sound can flow in the other direction as well.

This can be used when the television has a built-in broadcast receiver (e.g. watching Netflix on a smart-TV), but you don’t want to listen to the sound using the TV’s built-in speakers and prefer the surround sound system of the AV-receiver. Although this is a valuable use case in consumer electronics, it is almost never used in professional AV visualization.

Newer HDMITM versions add eARC (enhanced ARC), which has far more bandwidth. It lets lossless formats such as Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos travel from the TV back to the receiver or soundbar.

Cable length: how far can you go?

There have been various standards of HDMI^TM cables available on the market. For HDMI^TM 2.1 (48 Gbps) you need an “Ultra High Speed” certified cable, and HDMI^TM 2.2 introduces the “Ultra96” cable for up to 96 Gbps. Older equipment is fine with the “High Speed” HDMI^TM certification. Unfortunately, as is often the case with low-cost consumer appliances, not all high speed HDMI^TM cables can actually deliver the proper quality. Poor cables can cause a lot of problems, such as artifacts and glitches. Look for the certification label on the cable to be sure.

The HDMI^TM standard doesn’t really define a maximum cable length. It rather describes a performance specification from which the cable length can be derived. Usually HDMI^TM cables are quite short. Only very rarely the display and the source are further than 2 meters apart in television and projector setups.

For longer distances, you can rely on a signal booster or an active cable which amplifies the signal. Note that HDMI signals can also run over CAT 5 or CAT 6 cables (up to 100 meters for 1080p and 70 meters for 4K at 60 Hz with HDBaseT extenders), coaxial cable (up to 90 meters) or over fiber (more than 100 meters).

A passive copper DisplayPort cable transmits very high data rates of up to 4k resolution over 2 meters. If you need to cover a distance of up to 15 meters, you are limited to 1080p resolution according to the specification. However, many tests show that higher resolutions are possible as well. An active copper DP cable can cover up to 20 meters, with a 2560x1600 resolution. Also for DisplayPort, fiber cables can cover longer distances. For DisplayPort 2.1 at full speed (UHBR20) you need a VESA-certified DP80 cable. Passive DP80 cables are limited to about a meter, and the DP80LL active cables of DisplayPort 2.1b stretch this to 3 meters.

Contrary to HDMI^TM, DP cannot carry Ethernet signals, nor does it have an audio return signal. However, DisplayPort supports many adapters, to connect a large number of display standards, including a VGA, single-link DVI or HDMI^TM.

Another very important feature of DisplayPort, is that it can be daisy chained to drive multiple monitors at a time. In this way, a single DisplayPort interface can drive up to 4 monitors at 1920x1200 resolution. This is especially important for professionals who operate a video wall, as they only need one cable between the controller and the video wall to drive 4 (or even 6) displays. The exact number depends on the available bandwidth, so recent versions can drive more or larger screens. DisplayPort 2.x, for example, can drive three 4K screens at 90 Hz in HDR without compression. Every display in the chain except the last one needs a DisplayPort output, and HDMI^TM cannot be part of a chain at all.

Quick guide: DisplayPort or HDMI?

Short on time? This overview sums it up.

Your situation	The better choice
TV, soundbar, AV receiver or game console	HDMI^TM. It offers ARC and eARC and is the standard on TVs and consoles
PC monitor with a high refresh rate	DisplayPort or HDMI^TM 2.1, depending on what both the graphics card and the monitor support. Check the version and the speed tier
One cable for several monitors, or a video wall	DisplayPort, thanks to Multi-Stream Transport
Laptop with a USB-C port	USB-C with DisplayPort Alt Mode or Thunderbolt, if your port can output video
Long distances	HDMI^TM over Cat 6 with HDBaseT extenders, or active or fiber cables for DisplayPort
DisplayPort source and HDMI^TM display, or the other way round	An adapter. DisplayPort to HDMI^TM can often be passive at lower resolutions, HDMI^TM to DisplayPort always needs an active one

Conclusion

Although the purpose of HDMI and DisplayPort is similar for about 90%, there are a number of distinct features. HDMI supports an Audio Return Channel (ARC and eARC), making it possible to send sound from the display to the source – which can be handy when using a smart-TV.

The possibility to drive multiple displays with one cable is for many professionals a must. This feature determines in many cases the choice for DisplayPort.

In terms of image quality, there is virtually no difference between HDMI and DP. The newer the version, the higher the maximum bandwidth and the supported resolution. It is in fact much more important to check the version than the standard (HDMI or DP) itself, and for the newest versions also the speed tier. Also make sure that the cable is good enough to support the version’s resolution and high bandwidth..

Many of Barco's products, including our LCD video wall and projector ranges, feature both HDMI and DP. The Barco UniSee II LCD video wall, for example, has two DisplayPort 1.2 inputs, one DisplayPort output and two HDMI^TM 2.0 inputs, and the F80-4K7 projector offers HDMI^TM 2.0 next to two DisplayPort 1.2 inputs. These products can be used in both video and data centric applications, so it makes sense to include both. For LCD video walls, DP is the standard of choice in many cases, because it offers the possibility to drive multiple displays with one cable connection. By the way, in this article you can read why you can easily convert DisplayPort signals to HDMI using a passive adapter, but not the other way round.

In a purely image driven market like digital cinema, on the other hand, only HDMI is used.

[1]: Considering the 8b/10 overhead to measure the effective data transmission rate. Without this overhead, the bandwidth would be 18Gbps.

DisplayPort vs HDMI: What is the difference?

DisplayPort or HDMI: who is who?

Technical and functional comparison: DisplayPort vs. HDMI

Connectors: what a difference a pin makes

Resolution and bandwidth

Same version, different speed

Audio features: facing the music

Cable length: how far can you go?

Quick guide: DisplayPort or HDMI?

Conclusion

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