It was developed with the intention of creating an industry standard for the transfer of uncompressed digital video content.

[2] Although DVI is predominantly associated with computers, it is sometimes used in other consumer electronics such as television sets and DVD players.

At the same time, with the increasing availability of digital flat-panel displays, the priority shifted to digital video transmission, which would remove the extra analog/digital conversion steps required for VGA and EVC;[5]: 5–6  the EVC connector was reused by VESA,[6] which released the Plug & Display (P&D) standard in 1997.

[4]: 3 [5]: 4  DVI instead chose to strip just the data functions from P&D, using a 29-pin MicroCross connector to carry digital and analog video.

[8] Critically, DVI allows dual-link TMDS signals,[9] meaning it supports higher resolutions than the single-link P&D and DFP connectors, which led to its successful adoption as an industry standard.

Compatibility of DVI with P&D and DFP is accomplished typically through passive adapters that provide appropriate physical interfaces, as all three standards use the same DDC/EDID handshaking protocols and TMDS digital video signals.

Three data pairs carry their designated 8-bit RGB component (red, green, or blue) of the video signal for a total of 24 bits per pixel.

Video modes typically use horizontal and vertical refresh timings that are compatible with cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays, though this is not a requirement.

To ensure a basic level of interoperability, DVI compliant devices are required to support one baseline display mode, "low pixel format" (640 × 480 at 60 Hz).

The EDID block contains the display's identification, color characteristics (such as gamma value), and table of supported video modes.

The maximum length recommended for DVI cables is not included in the specification, since it is dependent on the TMDS clock frequency.

Dual link DVI adds six pins, at the center of the connector, for a second transmitter increasing the bandwidth and supporting resolutions up to 2560 × 1600 at 60 Hz.

Computers can be connected to HDTV sets over DVI, but the graphics card must support HDCP to play content protected by digital rights management (DRM).

[15] One of the purposes of DVI stream encoding is to provide a DC-balanced output that reduces decoding errors.

When DVI was designed, most computer monitors were still of the cathode-ray tube type that require analog video synchronization signals.

This 1:6.6 ratio can make clock recovery difficult, as phase-locked loops, if used, need to work over a large frequency range.

Some DVI-D sources use non-standard extensions to output HDMI signals including audio (e.g. ATI 3000-series and NVIDIA GTX 200-series).

Features specific to HDMI such as remote control, audio transport, xvYCC and deep color are not usable in devices that support only DVI signals.

In December 2010, Intel, AMD, and several computer and display manufacturers announced they would stop supporting DVI-I, VGA and LVDS-technologies from 2013/2015, and instead speed up adoption of DisplayPort and HDMI.

[18][19] They also stated: "Legacy interfaces such as VGA, DVI and LVDS have not kept pace, and newer standards such as DisplayPort and HDMI clearly provide the best connectivity options moving forward.