HDMI is one of the most ubiquitous display interfaces you can find today, with TVs, monitors, projectors, and more using it to connect to your computer, streaming device, gaming console, and anything else that needs an external screen. However, HDMI isn’t the only video standard; You might have a device yourself that uses another video streaming technology, legacy or modern, around the home or the office.

That does not mean that you need to replace or upgrade your non-HDMI devices if you want to use them with your HDMI TV, though. There are many HDMI adapters and splitters available right now that allow you to mix and match your gadgets with modern screens, even if they do not have an HDMI port. Some of these even allow you to attach multiple HDMI displays on the non-HDMI port, opening the door to a multi-monitor set up without using a single HDMI port.

While these adapters and splitters are quite useful, we should note that they are not universal. Your devices must have the necessary technologies to use some of these accessories. We’ll dive deeper into these details as we list the HDMI adapters.

Adapters and adapter cables are basic accessories for attaching HDMI cables to devices that don’t have the right port. These could be older gadgets made before 2002, which was the year the first HDMI standard was released, or cheaper displays that only use a VGA connector, because manufacturers must pay a licensing fee to use HDMI ports in their products. Another reason you’d need an HDMI adapter is if you want to install an extra monitor, but you’ve already run out of HDMI ports.

For example, my old laptop only featured a single HDMI port, meaning I could only attach one external monitor to it. However, I noticed that it had a smaller port beside the HDMI, which turned out to be a Mini DisplayPort (miniDP). So, instead of buying a new monitor that came with a DisplayPort interface, I decided to get a cheap miniDP-to-HDMI adapter cable. That way, I was able to use an old monitor I already had as a second screen for my workstation.

You can find HDMI adapters for various interfaces, including RCA and component video (typically found on older entertainment systems and game consoles), VGA and DVI (used by older computers), and DisplayPort and USB-C (found in some modern systems). With the exception of USB-C, all these accessories are plug-and-play, so you just need to plug them into a compatible port. However, you do need to make sure that you have the right HDMI cable or risk losing out on some features.

Many laptop manufacturers are ditching HDMI in favor of USB-C ports, especially for thin and light laptops. We saw this when we reviewed the M4 MacBook Air, which only gave users two USB-C ports. So, if you want to attach an external monitor to the laptop, you need a display that offers a USB-C connection, a USB-C to HDMI adapter, or a USB-C hub with an HDMI output.

This last one is far more useful than just an adapter, as USB hubs usually come with a number of other ports beside HDMI. Some models also double as SD and micro SD readers or give you an Ethernet port, to establish a cabled connection to the internet. Many come with pass-through charging — a crucial feature for laptops without a dedicated charging port.

However, not all USB-C ports are made the same. If you want to plug in a monitor into one (or into a port connected via USB-C), you must ensure that it supports USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode, USB 4, or Thunderbolt 3 or higher.

If you broke the HDMI port on your computer and can’t repair it, or you want to add another external display to your PC but have run out of HDMI ports (or other ports, for that matter), one solution is to use a DisplayLink USB hub or dock. These gadgets let you use any USB port for attaching a monitor, even if it doesn’t have the necessary specs. Note that this will have some limitations in terms of performance, and it’s not recommended to use a display attached via a DisplayLink hub for movies or any other task that would stress the GPU.

This is a great solution for laptops with a limited number of monitor-ready outputs, like the M4 and M5 MacBook Air. You can bypass this limit with a DisplayLink USB hub, which lets you plug in as many as six more additional screens on Windows and four on macOS.

DisplayLink USB hubs aren’t plug-and-play solutions, though, as you need to download and install a driver to run it on your computer. Aside from that, they’re a bit more expensive than regular USB hubs and docks. If you want to build a multi-monitor rig, we do not recommend going this route. You should instead find a solution that connects to your computer’s graphics card.

Many gaming laptops only offer a single HDMI port due to their limited space, which makes it hard to connect multiple displays to the machine. While some enthusiasts recommend that you use a desktop gaming PC with a discrete GPU if you want a setup like this, many modern gaming laptops with a dedicated graphics card are certainly capable of handling the workload. However, you need more than one video output port to do this. Unlike DisplayPort, HDMI does not support splitting one signal into two independent displays or daisy-chaining multiple monitors.

DisplayPort’s Multi-Stream Transport technology lets you send multiple video signals through a single port, which can then be transformed into HDMI by a DP to HDMI splitter. You can skip this step if you daisy-chain monitors via DisplayPort, as long as you have a compatible model like the Dell U2419H I use on my workstation. However, these monitors tend to be on the pricier side.

To use DP’s Multi-Stream Transport, you must have access to a DisplayPort-compatible port, which include USB 4 and Thunderbolt 3 connectors. Alternatively, you can use the mini-DisplayPort found on some older laptops.

You’re probably familiar with the standard HDMI port you find on the back of many TVs. However, these are a bit too large for some compact devices, like portable monitors and cameras. That’s why mini-HDMI and micro-HDMI ports were created. These works just the same as regular HDMI ports, except that you need a special cable or an adapter to use them.

For example, I use an external display to convert my MacBook Air into a portable workstation. Although my portable monitor comes with a USB-C port, it doesn’t work as well nor is it as reliable as its mini-HDMI port. Of course, my thin laptop doesn’t have an HDMI port, so I must use a USB-C hub with an HDMI port to connect the two.

These ports are slowly being phased out in favor of the more versatile USB-C. However, some older gadgets and niche devices still use these ports. My Canon EOS Rebel SL3 DSLR camera, a cheap but high-quality camera we recommended in the past, also features a mini-HDMI port. Thanks to these adapters, I don’t need to replace it