Extended display identification data

Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) is a data structure provided by a digital display to describe its capabilities to a video source (e.g. graphics card or set-top box). It is what enables a modern personal computer to know what kinds of monitors are connected to it. EDID is defined by a standard published by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). The EDID includes manufacturer name and serial number, product type, phosphor or filter type, timings supported by the display, display size, luminance data and (for digital displays only) pixel mapping data.

EDID structure versions range from v1.0 to v1.4; all these define upwards-compatible 128-byte structures. EDID structure v2.0 defined a new 256-byte structure, but subsequently has been deprecated and replaced by v1.3.HDMI 1.0 – 1.3c uses EDID structure v1.3.

DisplayID is a standard targeted to replace EDID and E-EDID extensions with a uniform format suited for both PC monitor and consumer electronics devices.

The channel for transmitting the EDID from the display to the graphics card is usually the I²C-bus, defined in DDC2B (DDC1 used a different serial format which never gained popularity).

Before DDC and EDID were defined, there was no standard way for a graphics card to know what kind of display device it was connected to. Some VGA connectors in personal computers provided a basic form of identification by connecting one, two or three pins to ground, but this coding was not standardized.

The EDID is often stored in the monitor in a memory device called a serial PROM (programmable read-only memory) or EEPROM (electrically erasable PROM) and is accessible via the I²C-bus at address 0x50. The EDID PROM can often be read by the host PC even if the display itself is turned off.

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