Physical connectors
| Image | Class or connector name | Used for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| RF connectors (analog radio frequency signals). Generally use coaxial cable types such as RG-6 and RG-59 (except for twin-lead). | |||
Belling-Lee connector / IEC 169-2 connector |
TV aerial plug, (a.k.a. PAL connector in Europe) | Most video devices in the world (other than the United States) connected directly to a roof antenna. Used by early home computers and game consoles to connect them to TVs because of the lack of any other connector. | Generally not used in the United States. |
 |
BNC (Bayonet Neill-Concelman) | Alternative to RCA for professional video electronics. Protocols: Serial Digital Interface (SDI) and HD-SDI. | 75 Ω for video signal on, for example, RG59 e RG6. |
50Ω (white/bottom row) and 75Ω C connectors (red/top row) |
C connector (Concelman connector) | ||
| GR connector (General Radio connector) | |||
 |
F connector | Used for U.S. TV antenna installations (but not for TV antenna installations outside of the US), satellite and cable systems worldwide. Also common in U.S. for early home computers & game consoles, older VCRs, RF modulators, and even CECBs due to lack of other connectors. | |
 |
N connector (Neill connector) | ||
 TNC connector (left), compared with BNC (right) |
Threaded Neill-Concelman connector (TNC) | ||
 |
Twin-lead | Used for older TV antenna installations in the U.S. and various other countries worldwide. Current use generally limited to baluns to adapt 300Ω twin-lead to/from 75Ω F connector. | Replaced by F connector in the US and Belling-Lee Connector in other countries outside the U.S. |
 |
UHF connector (e.g. PL-259/SO-239) | ||
| D-subminiature family | |||
DE-15 male plug. |
VGA connector (DE-15 is a common variant.) | Became a nearly ubiquitous analog computer display connector after first being introduced with IBM x86 machines. Older VGA connectors were DE-9 (9-pin). The modern DE-15 connector can carry Display Data Channel to allow the monitor to communicate with the graphics card, and optionally vice versa.[6] | Being replaced by DVI from 1990 onwards.[citation needed] |
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DB13W3 | Analog computer video, color and monochrome. Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, IBM RISC, Intergraph and some Apple Computer computer workstations. | Obsolete; replaced by VGA and DVI. Same connector was used by 3Com for a redundant PSU on the 3300 switch family. |
| DVI-related | |||
Single-link DVI-D male plug.
|
Digital Visual Interface (DVI). 5 variants are: DVI-I single link, DVI-I dual link, DVI-D single link, DVI-D dual link, and DVI-A. | Almost ubiquitous for modern computer video cards. | |
Male Mini-DVI plug on top of a 12-inch PowerBook G4; female port is second from left. |
Mini-DVI | VGA, DVI, television. Apple Computer alternative to Mini-VGA. | |
Female Micro-DVI port (rightmost) on MacBook Air |
Micro-DVI | DVI-D dual link | |
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DMS-59 | DVI dual link | |
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Apple Display Connector | Combines DVI, USB, and power. | |
One of the 3 HDMI variants, male plug. |
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) | High definition digital video devices (HDMI protocol) | Electrically compatible with DVI-D and DVD-I, using a simple adapter. |
| DIN/Mini-DIN | |||
 |
Mini-DIN 4-pin | S-Video (Separate-Video or Y/C) | |
|
Various Mini-DIN configurations | Various systems and protocols – see Mini-DIN for details | |
| Others | |||
3 RCA connectors – yellow for composite video, and white and red for stereo audio |
RCA connector | Widely used in consumer electronics for audio and video. | A single connector must be used for each signal. |
 |
SCART | Consumer electronics, mostly in Europe. Carries stereophonic audio (analog), along with either composite video or RGB video. Some devices support S-Video sharing the same pins as composite video and RGB. | |
D4 video connector |
D-Terminal | Popular in Japan for analog high definition video. Available sizes are D1 through D5. | Replacing RCA connectors.[citation needed] |
Male Mini-VGA plug on top of an Apple laptop, female port is second from right. |
Mini-VGA (used for laptops) | Used for laptops, especially from Apple Computer and some from Sony. | |
AV Multi (gold-plated male plugs) |
AV Multi | Sony proprietary. Combines composite video, S-Video, RGB, component video, and stereophonic sound (two analog channels). | |
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35-pin MicroCross Molex connector | VESA Enhanced Video Connector and VESA Plug and Display (a.k.a. M1-DA) both used this connector with slightly different pin assignments. These schemes combined VGA or digital video, audio, FireWire, and USB signals into a single connector. | Defunct, obsoleted by DFP and later DVI |
| HDI-45 | Apple proprietary. Combines Analog VGA out, stereo analog audio out, analog microphone in, S-video capture in, Apple desktop bus interface | Proprietary connector used on Apple Macintosh Centris computers, and the Apple AudioVision 14 Display. An attempt by Apple to deal with cable clutter, by combining five separate cables from computer to monitor. | |
 Female port (20-pin) |
Digital Flat Panel | Used with the PanelLink digital video protocol. | Obsoleted by DVI |
| Unified Display Interface | Proposed to replace both DVI and HDMI. Deprecated by Intel in favor of DisplayPort. | ||
| 3.5mm (⅛”) TRRS and TRS connector | Analog camcorders commonly use a 3.5mm 4-contact TRRS connector to carry composite video and stereo audio. | Jack appears identical to more common 3-contact stereo audio-only (Walkman) 3.5mm TRS connector. | |
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DisplayPort | DisplayPort is also the name of the protocol, which is proposed to replace DVI for computer monitors, and consumer electronics (such as home theatre systems). | |
Male Mini DisplayPort plug |
Mini DisplayPort | Proposed alternative to HDMI, used with computer displays: (VGA, DVI) Apple Inc.‘s successor to their own Mini-DVI. | |
