Other than improved audio and video capacity, performance, resolution and color spaces, newer versions have optional advanced features such as 3D, Ethernet data connection, and CEC extensions.

[6] In Europe, either DVI-HDCP or HDMI is included in the HD ready in-store labeling specification for TV sets for HDTV, formulated by EICTA with SES Astra in 2005.

[10] HDMI has the support of motion picture producers Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney, along with system operators DirecTV, EchoStar (Dish Network) and CableLabs.

[30] On January 28, 2008, In-Stat reported that shipments of HDMI were expected to exceed those of DVI in 2008, driven primarily by the consumer electronics market.

[32] Ten companies were given a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for their development of HDMI by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on January 7, 2009.

[34][35] All members of the HDMI Forum have equal voting rights, may participate in the Technical Working Group, and if elected can be on the Board of Directors.

III  The CEA-861-E document defines "video formats and waveforms; colorimetry and quantization; transport of compressed and uncompressed LPCM audio; carriage of auxiliary data; and implementations of the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) Enhanced Extended Display Identification Data Standard (E-EDID)".

The gamut metadata packet carries information on the color space being used for the current video stream and is required for xvYCC.

[5]: §CEC-3.1 It is a one-wire bidirectional serial bus that is based on the CENELEC standard AV.link protocol to perform remote control functions.

[43] The physical layer of the Ethernet implementation uses a hybrid to simultaneously send and receive attenuated 100BASE-TX-type signals through a single twisted pair.

[55] A further complication is that there is a small amount of display equipment, such as some high-end home theater projectors, designed with HDMI inputs but not HDCP-compliant.

[70] With better quality construction and materials, including 24 AWG (0.205 mm2) conductors, an HDMI cable can reach lengths of up to 15 meters (49 feet).

The following variable per-unit royalty is device-based and not dependent on number of ports, chips or connectors: Use of HDMI logo requires compliance testing.

It also optionally allows output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams for external decoding by AV receivers.

[117] In December 2016 additional support for HDR Video transport was added to HDMI 2.0b in the CTA-861-G specification, which extends the static metadata signaling to include hybrid log–gamma (HLG).

Display manufacturers may also use non-standard blanking intervals (a Vendor-Specific Timing Format as defined in the HDMI Specification[5]: §6.1 ) rather than CVT-RB v2 to achieve even higher frequencies when bandwidth is a constraint.

The refresh frequencies in the below table do not represent the absolute maximum limit of each interface, but rather an estimate based on a modern standardized timing formula.

[175][176][177] 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.

[178][179][180] The ATI Radeon HD 5870 released in September 2009 is the first video card that allows bitstream output over HDMI for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

[181] In December 2010, it was announced that several computer vendors and display makers including Intel, AMD, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and LG would stop using LVDS (actually, FPD-Link) from 2013 and legacy DVI and VGA connectors from 2015, replacing them with DisplayPort and HDMI.

[186] On September 1, 2020, Nvidia launched the GeForce RTX 30 series, the world's first discrete graphics cards with support for the full 48 Gbit/s bandwidth with Display Stream Compression 1.2 of HDMI 2.1.

[199] The Alternate Mode reconfigures the four SuperSpeed differential pairs present in USB-C to carry the three HDMI TMDS channels and the clock signal.

[197] As stated at CES in January 2023, HDMI Alternate Mode for USB Type-C is no longer being updated[200] as there are no known products using this protocol, reducing its relevance in the current market.

[205][206] DisplayPort 1.2 supports multiple audio/video streams, variable refresh rate (FreeSync), and Dual-mode transmitters compatible with HDMI 1.2 or 1.4.

[205][207][208] Revision 1.3 increases overall transmission bandwidth to 32.4 Gbit/s with the new HBR3 mode featuring 8.1 Gbit/s per lane; it requires Dual-mode with mandatory HDMI 2.0 compatibility and HDCP 2.2.

[209][210] Revision 1.4 added Display Stream Compression (DSC), support for the BT.2020 color space, and HDR10 extensions from CTA-861.3, including static and dynamic metadata.

[214] Revision 2.1 was published in October 2022, incorporating the new DP40 and DP80 cable certifications, which require proper operation at the UHBR10 (40 Gbit/s) and UHBR20 (80 Gbit/s) speeds introduced in version 2.0, and a bandwidth management feature to enable DisplayPort tunnelling to coexist with other I/O data traffic more efficiently over a USB4/USB Type-C connection.

[224] This lets existing connectors in mobile devices – such as micro-USB – be used, avoiding the need for additional dedicated video output sockets.

In addition to the features in common with HDMI (such as HDCP encrypted uncompressed high-definition video and eight-channel surround sound), MHL also adds the provision of power charging for the mobile device while in use, and also enables the TV remote to control it.

[226] The fourth version, superMHL, increased bandwidth by operating over multiple TMDS differential pairs (up to a total of six) allowing a maximum of 36 Gbit/s.