After being announced at CES 2025, the HDMI 2.2 specification has now been officially released, enabling consumer electronics makers to begin planning and implementation.
HDMI 2.2 doubles the bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 from 48 to 96 Gbps, unlocking support for higher resolutions and refresh rates in TVs, media players, game consoles, VR headsets and more.
HDMI 2.2 remains fully backwards compatible, but the increased bandwidth requires a new "Ultra96" cable, as announced at CES 2025 in January.
HDMI 2.2 is ready
This week, the HDMI organization announced that the HDMI 2.2 specification has been released, just in time to meet the "first half of 2025" deadline. The first Ultra96-certified cables are expected to be available in the second half of 2025 (cables supporting HDMI 2.1's 48Gbps bandwidth will still carry the 'Ultra High Speed' label).
- "The HDMI Forum is proud to release the new HDMI 2.2 Specification to enable higher performance capabilities and features for exciting and immersive new solutions and products," said Chandlee Harrell, president of the HDMI Forum. "And the introduction of the new Ultra96 feature name will help consumers and end-users ensure their product’s maximum bandwidth is supported."
TV makers and other consumer electronics makers can now begin integrating HDMI 2.2 into upcoming products.
It will take some time before HDMI 2.2 devices become available – HDMI 2.1 took more than two years to arrive – but the roll-out may happen a little faster this time since HDMI 2.2 builds on the same FRL (Fixed Rate Link) signaling system.
So HDMI 2.2 in TVs by 2027? Likely. 2026? Let's see. PlayStation 6 and the next-gen Xbox? A good bet.
HDMI 2.2 also introduces Latency Indication Protocol (LIP) for improved AV sync, while continuing to support all HDMI 2.1 features such as VRR, QMS, ALLM, eARC etc.
HDMI 2.2 supersedes HDMI 2.1
A key point for consumers: HDMI 2.2 officially replaces HDMI 2.1b. However, just like with HDMI 2.1, manufacturers can label any product as HDMI 2.2 even if it only supports one of its features – not necessarily the higher 96Gbps bandwidth.
Also read: (Mis)understanding HDMI 2.1
As a consumer, you will need to check which specific HDMI 2.2 features a product supports. FlatpanelsHD will of course provide this information in the TV Database.
'Ultra96' branding can appear on both cables and HDMI ports. But here is the caveat: if you see 'Ultra96' on a cable, it is certified for up to 96Gbps bandwidth. If the label is printed on a device's HDMI port, it doe not necessarily confirm 96Gbps support.
- "Ultra96 is a feature name that manufacturers are encouraged to use to indicate a product supports a maximum of 64 Gbps, 80 Gbps or 96 Gbps bandwidth in compliance with the HDMI 2.2 Specification," the HDMI organization explained.
Ultra96 may be printed below the HDMI port, but the l abel is not mandatory, and it does not ensure support for 96Gbps bandwidth. Photo: HDMI Forum
Supports 4K, 8K, 12K – even 16K
HDMI 2.2 continues its flexible, mode-switching approach. Some resolution/refresh rate combos will be standardized in TVs, monitors and players, while other custom modes may appear only in PCs.
A table released with HDMI 2.2 details supported video formats. You can find it below.
HDMI 2.2 enables uncompressed 4K 240Hz and 8K 60Hz. These uncompressed modes are critical as they represent baseline capabilities – no signal compression required.
HDMI 2.2 also supports DSC 1.2a signal compression for even higher formats. These are listed as green (also supported by HDMI 2.1 + DSC) or blue (supported only by HDMI 2.2 + DSC) in the table. Here, we have things like 4K 480Hz, 8K 240Hz, and even 16K 60Hz.. However, both the player/PC and TV/monitor must support HDMI 2.2 and DSC 1.2a to enable this – it is optional for device makers to support DSC.
While these formats sound futuristic today, monitors capable of 4K 480Hz and 8K 120Hz are expected in the near term. Thanks to VRR, a GPU does not need to consistently render a game in 4K 480fps or anything close to take advantage of 240+ frame rates. The HDMI group said that, as a rule of thumb, gaming and VR/AR payload bandwidth doubles every 2-3 years.
HDMI 2.2 will compete with DisplayPort 2.1, which supports up to 80Gbps bandwidth.
Now we wait.
HDMI 2.2 – supported features and video formats
FlatpanelsHD
