What is DisplayPort?

DisplayPort, or DP for short, is a digital display interface standard primarily used to connect a computer to a monitor. It was developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) and was designed as a successor to VGA, DVI, and LVDS. DisplayPort offers several advantages over other display interface standards, including support for high-resolution displays, high refresh rates, and the ability to transmit audio and video over a single cable. DisplayPort is commonly used on computer monitors, graphics cards, and laptops, and is also used in some consumer electronics devices such as TVs and Blu-ray players. DisplayPort comes in different versions, with DisplayPort 2.1 being the most recent and offering the highest bandwidth and support for the latest display technologies.

Evolution of the DisplayPort Standard

With each update of the DisplayPort standard, more bandwidth is required to support higher video resolutions, refresh rates and color depths. The effective data rate of DP 1.3 and 1.4 is sufficient to support a 4K, 24-bit color monitor at a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, but it is not able to support the new generation of higher resolution 6K and 8K displays without resorting to compression.

DisplayPort Specification Year Typical Monitor Resolution Max. Data Rate (4 lanes)* Bit Rate Class
1.0 2006 1440p @ 60 Hz 5.18/8.64 Gbps RBR/HBR
1.1 2007 1440p @ 60 Hz 8.64 Gbps HBR
1.2 2009 4K @ 60 Hz 17.28 Gbps HBR2
1.3 2014 4K @ 120 Hz
8K @ 60 Hz (with DSC)		 25.92 Gbps HBR3
1.4 2016 4K @ 120 Hz
8K @ 60 Hz (with DSC)		 25.92 Gbps HBR3
1.4a 2018 4K @ 120 Hz
8K @ 60 Hz (with DSC)		 25.92 Gbps HBR3
2.0 2019 8K @ 60 Hz 77.36 Gbps UHBR
2.1 2022 8K @ 60 Hz 77.36 Gbps UHBR10 (40Gbit/s)
UHBR20 (80Gbit/s)

* Effective bandwidth after allowing for signal encoding overhead. DP 1.x uses 8/10b encoding, which results in a 20% overhead. DP 2.0 uses the more efficient 128/132b with a 3% overhead. 

DisplayPort 1.0 (2006)

  • High Bitrate (HBR) 2.70 Gbps per lane
  • Data Encoding Scheme: 8b/10b
  • DPCP 1.0

DisplayPort 1.1 (2007)

  • HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) 1.3
  • Dual Mode (DP++)
  • 3D Video

DisplayPort 1.2 (2009)

  • Multi-Stream Transport (MST)

DisplayPort 1.3 (2015)

  • Compatibility with HDMI 2.0
  • HDCP 2.2

DisplayPort 1.4 (2016)

  • HDR
  • HBR3
  • DSC 1.2

DisplayPort 1.4a (2018)

  • DSC 1.2a

DisplayPort 2.0 (2019)

  • Video resolutions:
    • 8K/60 Hz uncompressed
    • 10K@60Hz with 24-bit color and 4:4:4
    • 16K@60 Hz with DSC
  • HDR
  • 77.37 Gbps transfer speed (UHBR 10)
  • Data encoding: 128b/132b
  • Display Signal Compression (DSC)