TL;DR
- HDMI 2.2 is here, introducing higher 96Gbps bandwidth, HDMI Fixed Rate Link technology, and support for higher resolutions and refresh rates.
- There’s also a new Latency Indication Protocol for improving audio and video synchronization with audio-video receivers or soundbars.
- The specification also includes a new Ultra96 HDMI cable supporting 96Gbps bandwidth and enabling all the new features.
Most people recognize HDMI as the cable standard used whenever you need to connect something to your TV. HDMI made life much simpler by saving us from the mess of multiple audio and video cables required to connect your source devices to a display and even enabling features like HDMI ARC. However, with source devices getting more powerful, HDMI needs to keep up, and that is where the new HDMI 2.2 specification comes into the picture.
HDMI 2.2 future-proofs the standard by introducing higher 96Gbps bandwidth and next-gen HDMI Fixed Rate Link technology. This enables higher-quality options for content producers such as TV, movie, and game studios now and in the future while enabling multiple distribution platforms.
With HDMI 2.2, the faster 96Gbps bandwidth improves demanding data-intensive, immersive, and virtual applications such as AR/VR/MR, spatial reality, light field displays, and various commercial applications such as large-scale digital signage, medical imaging, and machine vision. The spec also includes support for higher resolutions and refresh rates, though technical details aren’t immediately available. For reference, HDMI 2.1 supports 48Gbps bandwidth, up to 120Hz variable refresh rates, and resolutions up to 10,240 x 4,320 with Display Stream Compression.
Further, HDMI 2.2 also includes a new Latency Indication Protocol for improving audio and video synchronization, especially for multi-hop system configurations such as those with an audio-video receiver or soundbar.
The specification also includes a new Ultra96 HDMI cable supporting 96Gbps bandwidth and enabling all the HDMI 2.2 specification features. The HDMI Forum Inc. has also made it a part of the HDMI Cable Certification Program, requiring each model length to be tested and certified to display a certification label. The silver lining is that the port shape is not changing, so backward compatibility is retained for the spec.
The new HDMI 2.2 specification will be available to all HDMI 2.x adopters, and they will be notified when it is released in H1 2025. You can expect consumer devices to come with support for this tech in the later parts of the year.
