VESA (), formally known as Video Electronics Standards Association, is an American technical standards organization for

computer display standard Computer display standards are a combination of aspect ratio, display size, display resolution, color depth, and refresh rate. They are associated with specific expansion cards, video connectors and monitors. History Various computer display ...

s. The organization was incorporated in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

in July 1989To retrieve the information, search for Entity Number C1645094. and has its office in San Jose. It claims a membership of over 300 companies. In November 1988,

NEC Home Electronics is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

announced its creation of the association to develop and promote a

Super VGA Super VGA (SVGA) is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's VGA specification. When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to a resolution of 800×600. History ...

as a successor to IBM's proprietary

Video Graphics Array Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can n ...

(VGA) display standard. Super VGA enabled

graphics display resolution The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ...

s up to 800×600

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the s ...

s, compared to VGA's maximum resolution of 640×480 pixels—a 56% increase. The organization has since issued several additional standards related to computer video displays. Widely used VESA standards include DisplayHDR,

DisplayPort DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...

, and

Flat Display Mounting Interface The Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI), also known as VESA Mounting Interface Standard (MIS) or colloquially as VESA mount, is a family of standards defined by the Video Electronics Standards Association for mounting flat panel monitors, tele ...

Standards

Feature connector The feature connector was an internal connector found mostly in some older ISA, VESA Local Bus, and PCI graphics cards, but also on some early AGP ones. It was intended for use by devices which needed to exchange large amounts of data with the ...

(VFC), obsolete connector that was often present on older videocards, used as an 8-bit video bus to other devices * VESA Advanced Feature Connector (VAFC), newer version of the VFC that widens the bus to either a 16-bit or 32-bit bus *

VESA Local Bus The VESA Local Bus (usually abbreviated to VL-Bus or VLB) is a short-lived expansion bus introduced during the i486 generation of x86 IBM-compatible personal computers. Created by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association), the VESA Local ...

(VLB), once used as a fast video bus (akin to the more recent

Accelerated Graphics Port Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a parallel expansion card standard, designed for attaching a video card to a computer system to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. It was originally designed as a successor to PCI-type conn ...

(AGP)) *

VESA BIOS Extensions VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) is a VESA standard, currently at version 3, that defines the interface that can be used by software to access compliant video boards at high resolutions and bit depths. This is opposed to the "traditional" int 10h BI ...

(VBE), used for enabling standard support for advanced video modes *

Display Data Channel The Display Data Channel, or DDC, is a collection of protocols for digital communication between a computer display and a graphics adapter that enable the display to communicate its supported display modes to the adapter and that enable the comp ...

(DDC), a data link protocol which allows a host device to control an attached display and communicate EDID, DPMS, MCCS and similar messages *

Extended Display Identification Data Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) and Enhanced EDID (E-EDID) are metadata formats for display devices to describe their capabilities to a video source (e.g. graphics card or set-top box). The data format is defined by a standard publishe ...

(E-EDID), a data format for display identification data *

Monitor Control Command Set VESA Monitor Control Command Set or MCCS is a computer standard developed by Video Electronics Standards Association. It defines a binary protocol for controlling the properties of computer monitors from a host device such as PC, set-top box, etc ...

(MCCS), a message protocol for controlling display parameters such as brightness, contrast, display orientation from the host device *

DisplayID DisplayID is a VESA standard for metadata describing display device capabilities to the video source. It is designed to replace E-EDID standard and EDID structure v1.4. The DisplayID standard was initially released in December 2007. Version 1 ...

, display identification data format, which is a replacement for E-EDID *

VESA Display Power Management Signaling VESA Display Power Management Signaling (or DPMS) is a standard from the VESA consortium for power management of video monitors. Example usage includes turning off, or putting the monitor into standby after a period of idle time to save power. So ...

(DPMS), which allows monitors to be queried on the types of power saving modes they support *

Digital Packet Video Link Digital Packet Video Link (DPVL) is a video standard released by VESA in 2004. Unlike previous technologies, in order to save bandwidth, only portions of the screen that are modified are sent by the means of this link. DPVL also introduces me ...

(DPVL), a display link standard that allows to update only portions of the screen *

VESA Stereo VESA Stereo is a liquid crystal shutter glasses interface standard by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) for stereoscopic 3D display A 3D display is a display device capable of conveying depth to the viewer. Many 3D displa ...

, a standard 3-pin connector for synchronization of

stereoscopic Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

images with

LC shutter glasses An active shutter 3D system (a.k.a. alternate frame sequencing, alternate image, AI, alternating field, field sequential or eclipse method) is a technique of displaying stereoscopic 3D images. It works by only presenting the image intended for t ...

(FDMI) *

Generalized Timing Formula Generalized Timing Formula is a standard by VESA which defines exact parameters of the component video signal for analogue VGA display interface. The video parameters defined by the standard include horizontal blanking (retrace) and vertical b ...

(GTF), video timing standard *

Coordinated Video Timings Coordinated Video Timings (CVT; ''VESA-2013-3 v1.2'') is a standard by VESA which defines the timings of the component video signal. Initially intended for use by computer monitors and video cards, the standard made its way into consumer televisi ...

(CVT), a replacement for GTF * VESA Video Interface Port (VIP), a digital video interface standard *

(DP), a digital display interface standard *

VESA Enhanced Video Connector The VESA Enhanced Video Connector is a VESA standard intended to reduce the number of cables around a computer by incorporating video, audio, FireWire and USB into a single cable system. The intention of the system was to make the monitor the ce ...

, an obsolete standard for reducing the number of cables around computers * DisplayHDR, a standard to simplify HDR specifications for the display industry and consumers

Company membership

The following major companies are members of VESA. *

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufact ...

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. I ...

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Dolby Laboratories Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to ...

Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New T ...

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

Gigabyte Technology Gigabyte Technology (branded as GIGABYTE or sometimes GIGA-BYTE; formally GIGA-BYTE Technology Co., Ltd.) is a Taiwanese manufacturer and distributor of computer hardware. Gigabyte's principal business is motherboards. It shipped 4.8 million mot ...

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

* HP *

HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smart ...

Ikegami Tsushinki () is a Japanese manufacturer of professional and broadcast television equipment, especially professional video cameras, both for electronic news gathering and studio use. The company was founded in 1946. History Ikegami introduced the firs ...

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...

JVC Kenwood , stylized as JVCKENWOOD, is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It was formed from the merger of Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (JVC) and Kenwood Corporation on October 1, 2008. Upon creation, Haruo Kaw ...

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, business solutions, and related se ...

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest ''chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered ...

Maxell , commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics. The company's name is a contraction of "Maximum capacity dry cell". Its main products are batteries, wireless charging products, storage devices, LCD/lase ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

* NEC *

Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, a ...

Seiko Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Criticisms

VESA has been criticized for their policy of charging non-members for some of their published standards. Some people believe the practice of charging for specifications has undermined the purpose of the VESA organization. According to Kendall Bennett, developer of the VBE/AF standard, the VESA Software Standards Committee was closed down due to a lack of interest resulting from charging high prices for specifications. At that time no VESA standards were available for free. Although VESA now hosts some free standards documents, the free collection does not include newly developed standards. Even for obsolete standards, the free collection is incomplete. As of 2010, current standards documents from VESA cost hundreds to thousands of dollars each. Some older standards are not available for free, or for purchase. As of 2017, the free downloads require mandatory registration. While not all standards bodies provide specifications freely available for download, many do, including: ITU,

JEDEC The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association is an independent semiconductor engineering trade organization and standardization body headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. JEDEC has over 300 members, including some of the w ...

, DDWG, and

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controll ...

(through HDMI 1.3a). At the time

was announced, VESA was criticized for developing the specification in secret and having a track record of developing unsuccessful digital interface standards, including Plug & Display and Digital Flat Panel.Commentary: Will VESA survive DisplayPort?
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vesa Computer display standards 1989 establishments in the United States Organizations based in San Jose, California Organizations established in 1989