What Is DisplayPort 2.1?

With newer monitors getting higher and higher refresh rates and resolutions, and newer graphics cards and CPUs getting a lot faster, we’re going to need a video interface that’ll be able to keep up with all that – preferably without compression!

This is where DisplayPort 2.1 comes in.

Note that the newer DisplayPort 2.1 standard succeeds DisplayPort 2.0. So, all previous DP 2.0 devices are now also DP 2.1 certified.

DisplayPort 2.1 Bandwidth

Thanks to DSC (Display Stream Compression), which is visually lossless, DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 can already support very high resolutions and refresh rates, so when exactly will we be able to take full advantage of DisplayPort 2.1?

DisplayPort 2.1 can triple the maximum bandwidth of DisplayPort 1.4, depending on its transmission mode.

DP 1.4, with its highest HBR3 (High Bit Rate) transmission mode, has a maximum bandwidth of 32.40 Gbps, or a 25.92 Gbps data rate.

DP 2.1 has three UHBR (Ultra High Bit Rate) transmission modes:

Transmission Mode	Maximum Bandwidth Capacity	Maximum Data Rate
UHBR10	40 Gbps	38.69 Gbps
UHBR13.5	54 Gbps	52.22 Gbps
UHBR20	80 Gbps	77.37 Gbps

As you can see, DP 2.1 also has higher efficiency regarding the maximum bandwidth capacity and actual data rate, thanks to its 128b/323b encoding:

• DP 1.4: 32.40 Gbps, 25.92 Gbps data rate – 80% efficiency
• DP 2.1: 80 Gbps, 77.73 Gbps data rate – 96.7% efficiency

In comparison, HDMI 2.1 has a maximum bandwidth of 48 Gbps or a 42.6 Gbps data rate.

So, unlike HDMI 2.1, DP 2.1 devices with UHBR20 could support 4K 240Hz, 8K 60Hz, 1440p 500Hz and 10-bit color depth – without relying on DSC. With DSC, DP 2.1 can support significantly higher resolutions, such as 16K 60Hz!

DisplayPort 2.1 Compatibility

DisplayPort 2.1 is backward compatible with DP 1.2 and DP 1.4. So, you can connect a GPU with DP 1.4, for instance, to a display with DP 2.1, but you’ll be limited to DP 1.4 bandwidth.

In order for a device to have ‘DisplayPort 2.1’, it must support DSC and at least one of the following three features:

• UHBR
• Adaptive-Sync
• LTTRPs (Link-Training Tunable PHY Repeaters) for ensuring signal integrity

MST (Multi-Stream Transport) used for daisy-chaining is now a baseline of DP 2.1.

This means that a DP 2.1 device might not necessarily support UHBR and, therefore, be limited to a bandwidth of HBR3, which can be very misleading.

So, you’ll have to pay attention to the transmission mode of DP 2.1 devices, which is hopefully clearly specified by manufacturers.

Sadly, this is also the case with HDMI 2.1, as it has different fixed-rate link (FRL) rates, ranging from FRL1 with 9 Gbps to FRL6 with 48 Gbps.

Even the DisplayPort 1.4 specification can be misleading since some monitor manufacturers advertise their displays to have DP 1.4 as they have HDR support (which DP 1.2 does not) – even though they’re limited to HBR2 bandwidth (21.6 Gbps or 17.28 Gbps data rate).

Luckily, some manufacturers label these displays as ‘DP 1.2 + HDR.’

DisplayPort 2.1 Cables

To take advantage of DisplayPort 2.1, you’ll need either a DisplayPort cable labeled as ‘DP40’ with 40 Gbps for UHBR10 or a ‘DP80’ cable with 80 Gbps for UHBR13.5 and UHBR20 devices.

The DisplayPort logo for DP 2.1 devices remains the same as the older ones, so you’ll have to rely on the specified bandwidth capacity.

Another thing to note is that, just like with the previous DisplayPort standards, there’s no difference between full-sized DisplayPort and mini-DisplayPort interfaces, besides the size of the physical connector.

DisplayPort 2.1 GPUs and Displays

Some gaming graphics cards can’t utilize the full bandwidth, but thanks to backward compatibility and DSC, you can still use the monitor without issues, but not at the maximum resolution/refresh rate in some cases.

RTX 30-series	DP 1.4 (HBR3)
RTX 40-series	DP 1.4 (HBR3)
RTX 50-series	DP 2.1 (UHBR20)
RX 6000	DP 1.4 (HBR3)
RX 7000	DP 2.1 (UHBR13.5)
RX 9000	DP 2.1 (UHBR13.5)

Only NVIDIA’s RTX 5000-series cards support DP 2.1 UHBR20, whereas AMD’s 9000-series is still limited to UHBR13.5.

DisplayPort 2.1a

In January 2024, VESA published the latest DP 2.1a update that replaces the DP40 cable specification with DP54 for 54 Gbps support over 2m passive cables. This allows for longer UHBR13.5 cables.

DisplayPort 2.1b

In January 2025, VESA added a new DP 2.1b certification, which brings support for longer UHBR20 active cables (up to 3m) labeled as DP80LL (Low Loss).

Conclusion

We tried to keep this article short with the most important information. You can find more technical information on VESA’s website.

DisplayPort 2.1 Monitor List