- HDMI 2.2’s bandwidth is up from 48Gbps to 96Gbps
- Uncompressed 4K at 240Hz and 8K at 60Hz – or compressed 4K at 480Hz and 8K 240Hz
- Not all ports labelled HDMI 2.2 have to support the full spec
It’s official: the HDMI 2.2 specification has been published, and that means manufacturers can start building it into their products. You won’t see it immediately – there’s a fair lag between a new spec being published and the appropriate hardware making it into production – but it promises some big improvements and some minor annoyances.
The good news first: provided you have an Ultra96 cable, you’ll be able to take advantage of bandwidth of 96Gbps compared to HDMI 2.1b’s 48Gbps.
The bad news: just because a HDMI port says “Ultra96” on it doesn’t mean you’ll get 96Gbps, because that would be too easy.
Why HDMI 2.2 doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get upgraded everything
As FlatPanelsHD reports, if a cable says it’s Ultra96 certified then it has to deliver 96Gbps. But if a device’s HDMI 2.2 port says Ultra96, it doesn’t. It could be 80Gbps, or 64Gbps.
That’s because with HDMI 2.2, manufacturers can stick the 2.2 / Ultra96 label on their products even if those products don’t support every part of the standard.
It’s rather reminiscent of USB-C: just because something has a USB-C connector doesn’t mean it supports any or all of the important features you might expect it to.
The spec is impressive, however. In addition to better AV device synchronisation via Latency Indication Protocol and support for uncompressed 4K 240Hz and 8K 60Hz there’s DSC 1.2a signal compression for even higher-res formats of up to 16K – although that requires the display and its video/audio source to support both HDMI 2.2 and DSC 1.2a, and the latter is optional. And of course it also requires creators to commit to making things in 16K too.
In terms of when you’ll actually be able to get HDMI 2.2 products, it’ll hopefully happen more quickly than the two-year gap between HDMI 2.1’s announcement and arrival. But even on a speedier schedule you’re probably looking at HDMI 2.2 TVs first appearing in late 2026 or early 2027.
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