Display Bandwidth Calculator
Enter a display mode and see the bandwidth it actually requires, using the same TMDS/FRL/DSC modeling as the Compatibility Checker — never a separate estimate.
What "required bandwidth" means
Resolution × refresh rate × color format × bit depth sets the raw amount of pixel data a display mode needs per second. What actually fits through a physical link is smaller than that link's advertised raw rate, because every protocol spends part of its bandwidth on encoding overhead before any pixel data gets through — and two visually identical modes can need different pixel clocks depending on the exact timing standard the monitor uses, so a resolution/refresh pair alone doesn't fully determine the requirement either.
DisplayPort 1.4: 32.4 Gbps raw link rate, but only 25.92 Gbps is usable payload after 8b/10b encoding overhead (20%) — verified against VESA's own specification.
DisplayPort 2.1 (UHBR20): 80 Gbps raw, but real payload after FEC overhead is 77.36–77.37 Gbps — not the 77.58 Gbps a naive "128b/132b encoding only" calculation would suggest. The extra ~0.2 Gbps gap is real FEC overhead this calculator accounts for, cross-checked against an independent technical source (TFTCentral) because DisplayPort 2.1's real-world overhead isn't spelled out as plainly in VESA's own materials as DP1.4's is.
What this doesn't know: HDMI 2.1's exact per-device link rate (FRL 3–12 Gbps per lane, negotiated) isn't published by any device this project has verified — so where that figure would matter, the result shows it as not currently derivable rather than assumed. Pixel clock is optional here for the same reason as the Checker: only fill it in if you have a verified figure from your monitor's manual or EDID, because two monitors at the identical resolution and refresh rate can genuinely use different pixel clocks — leaving it blank uses a standard-derived estimate (CVT-RBv2), clearly labeled as an estimate, not your monitor's real value.
This calculator answers "how much bandwidth does this mode need and does it fit through this link" — it doesn't know whether a specific dock or monitor supports that link in the first place. For that, use the Compatibility Checker.
This calculator calls the same PHP domain classes that power the public Compatibility Checker (Required_Bandwidth_Calculator, Transport_Bandwidth_Resolver, Dsc_Compressor) — the math is never reimplemented in JavaScript. HDMI TMDS overhead (8b/10b, 20%) and FRL overhead (16b/18b, ~11%) are verified against independent technical sources cross-checked against 3 sources; HDMI 2.1's exact per-device link rate is not published by any device we've verified, so its payload capacity is shown as not currently derivable rather than assumed. See DisplayPort Bandwidth Explained for the full reasoning.