Which Connection Is Best for Your Monitor?

When setting up a new PC monitor, you’ll usually find two separate video cables in the box. One, a pinned trapezoid shape, connects the monitor to a video source via HDMI. The other, with the rectangular-looking connector with the corner cut off, is the DisplayPort cable. But some newer monitors also have a third USB-C port, and you’ll often find a USB-C port listed as a video-out port on laptops, too. Although having several communication options is convenient, it is not always clear which one is best for your monitoring.

Generally, if you connect your monitor to a PC with a separate graphics card, or if you want to use multiple monitors, DisplayPort is preferred. On the other hand, if you’re connecting to a Mac or PC with integrated graphics, a TV, home theater equipment, or a gaming console like Xbox or PlayStation, HDMI is a safe bet. While DisplayPort has several advantages for gaming and multi-monitor setups, and can use USB-C for many devices, HDMI is supported across a wide range of A/V devices and has several features that add value for media use.

Ultimately, you should use whatever connection standard is best for your setup based on what devices you’re connecting your monitor to, and what generations of HDMI or DisplayPort support it. Here’s how HDMI and DisplayPort stack up, so you can decide which is best for your monitor.

DisplayPort isn’t usually seen on TVs, but it’s widely supported among leading gaming monitors and PC graphics cards. Traditionally, that’s because DisplayPort was designed with variable refresh rates in mind. When you watch a movie, it will be displayed at a fixed frame rate, usually 24 frames per second (FPS). But when you’re playing a game, the frame rate can fluctuate wildly from minute to minute. To make the experience smoother, variable refresh rate (VRR) technologies such as AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync have arrived to help coordinate frame rates between the GPU and the monitor in the system. DisplayPort has long supported VRR natively, and although some monitors now support VRR standards over HDMI, DisplayPort remains the strongest choice.

Bandwidth is competitive between the two connection standards. Where HDMI reaches a maximum of 96 gigabits per second (Gbps) with the latest HDMI 2.2 specification, standard HDMI 2.1 reaches 48 Gbps. For high-end gaming hardware, DisplayPort 2.1 offers 80 Gbps, while 1.4 offers up to 32.4Gbps.

What sets DisplayPort apart for most PC users, however, is its inclusion in the USB-C standard. DisplayPort uses USB-C Alternate Mode, which means, as long as it’s both a video source and DisplayPort Alternate Mode is enabled, you can connect them with a single USB-C cable. Not all USB-C ports or cables support DisplayPort Alt Mode, so be sure to check your product’s documentation.

Even if you’re not gaming, DisplayPort is usually the better choice for multiple monitors because of its daisy support. As long as your monitor has a DisplayPort port, you can connect one monitor to another rather than using multiple video ports on your computer.

HDMI is best suited for media use, such as watching movies and television shows. It doesn’t matter if you’re connected to a monitor, TV, sound bar, or game console — almost every device capable of outputting video includes an HDMI port. In addition to widespread compatibility, HDMI includes many of the necessary standards for premium audio, as well as connecting home theater equipment, as well as copyright-protected content agreements. All these advantages make HDMI the default choice for home theaters, but not for computers.

Standards like Enhanced Audio Return Channel, or eARC, make HDMI key for entertainment systems. eARC allows the source to send clean audio to a sound receiver or sound bar, making it easy to take advantage of HDMI’s robust support for surround sound formats including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. At the same time, HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (HDMI-CEC) can let your devices control each other. For example, press the power button on your Roku or PlayStation controller, and your TV will turn on and tune to that A/V source.

Finally, HDMI supports digital rights management (DRM) protected content, which is a big must-have during streaming. It includes support for high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP), which checks to ensure that the content you are viewing is properly licensed. Some 4K content from streaming services such as Netflix will not be streamed unless a minimum of DisplayPort 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2 and above is connected. In rare cases, you may not be able to stream content at all from a video source to your TV without supporting at least some form of HDCP.