VESA DisplayPort 2.1 Specification Released With Better USB-C And USB4 Integration
That bit of information is embedded right in the first paragraph of VESA's announcement. The group says that it has been "working closely with member companies" to make sure that extant DisplayPort 2.0 products were prepared to meet the "newer, more demanding" 2.1 spec. The statement is quite strong: VESA says that "all previously certified DisplayPort 2.0 products...have already been certified" for 2.1.
What does that actually mean? Not a lot, really. Where previous DisplayPort versions made support for Display Stream Compression optional, devices certified for DisplayPort 2.1 are required to have it. Display Stream Compression is a lossless compression method developed by VESA that drastically reduces the bandwidth required by high-resolution and high-framerate displays. Almost all DisplayPort devices, even before DP 2.0, already supported this technology, so it's not a huge change.
The real change for DisplayPort 2.1 is more of a behind-the-scenes difference. The new revision of the standard alters signaling and enables DisplayPort tunneling, both of which help the DP 2 standard align more closely with USB4. This doesn't really change much for end-users, although devices sending DisplayPort data over the same wire as USB data don't have to compromise on video signal quality anymore. Still, the revision is more aimed at simplifying the design of devices with DisplayPort Alternate Mode support, as the changes in the 2.1 standard mean that DisplayPort 2.1 and USB4 can share a PHY.
All extant DisplayPort 2.0 devices are already capable of meeting the stringent DP 2.1 standard, so if you have a DP 2.0 device, congratulations! It's been magically upgraded to 2.1, just like that. Hopefully vendors take after Intel's example (and not NVIDIA's) and update to the latest standard so we can all enjoy 8K120 video sooner rather than later.
