USB 3.0 vs 3.1 vs 3.2 vs 4.0: What's the difference?

[@wannabefunnyman]

So what you’re saying is that the primary purpose of the naming is to be as confusing or ridiculous as possible.

[@Saif0412]

Pretty much yeah 🤦🏽

[@commieTerminator]

The USB 3.2 and later naming makes sense though but the way they RENAME older versions is indeed gonna cause confusion

[@Xi_Jinping_is_Pooh]

Don't worry man, they are going to change it again anyway.

[@kayl456jenna]

If the USB-IF had an ounce of common sense, they would drop all the "3.1" and "3.2" and "Gen" business. Just make it "USB 3 5x1" for the original and "10x1", "5x2" and "10x2" for the rest. There, that's all the relevant information in a simple compact form: the (third) generation of the USB spec, the base speed of the data lanes, and the number of lanes.

[@paradoxzee6834]

They got me, when I was buying my laptop it stated it have USB 3.1 gen 1, ok I assume great it have the 10Gbit one, because at the time I knew usb 3.0 is 5Gbit and 3.1 is 10Gbit, did not know they rename it. I still don't understand why they rename 3.0 and 3.1 it was easy to understand and to explain to someone

[@blackace72]

This video was extremely helpful in understanding why the naming is complex. Now I think about the USB number in 'USB Y.Z' as the "meta scheme" number. So reading "USB 3.0" I think "original scheme, so just the third major USB". If I read "USB 3.1" I think "Speed scheme. Gen 1 is 5Gbit, Gen 2 is 10Gbit". If I read "USB 3.2" I think "Lane scheme. So Gen 1x1 is 5Gbit, one lane. Gen 1x2 is 5Gbit, two lanes, so 10Gbit. Gen 2x1 is 10Gbit, one lane. Gen 2x2 is 10Gbit two lanes, so 20Gbit."

[@bobclarke5913]

Pretty sure the USB naming committee is a Python skit that got away.

[@John.0z]

The second presentation of "Confuse-a-cat"?

[@V22Tweek]

The fact you got all that into a 13 minute video was pretty impressive. I think it could have stretched to 30 minutes or more. Thanks for putting this out there, it will certainly be helpful when I'm looking for cables for my devices.

[@thedoofguy5707]

Well, at least the USB Implementers Forum stopped putting things like "Full Speed" or "High Speed" in the names. It's not much, but it's something. If they would now stop renaming older specifications every few years, that would be nice.

[@YounesLayachi]

They don't rename older specifications. It's just the new revision INCLUDES the features and speed modes of the older ones, because of course, they have to be compatible.

[@anthonyshort8957]

Amazing amount of useful info packed into 13 minutes - thank you. Hopefully with the new logos we'll get more useful labels on devices and cables.

[@GaryExplains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Amrit_Josan]

​@GaryExplains Do you mind explaining more about USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 and USB 3.2 Gen 1x2? Like How do they differ from each other, and what are the advantages of getting one over the other?

[@christopherlyons7613]

Crazy! Names like 3.2 Gen 2x1, x2, etc. is way too detailed to be understood. Names should be simple (ie USB 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) so general consumers don't have to get caught in the weeds. If someone needs to know the specific details they can always Google it. As we progress this is only going to get worse.

[@ashishpatel350]

Amazed the USB governing body didn't rename themselves

[@christopherlyons7613]

I'd like to give them an appropriate name! 😮

[@whothefoxcares]

Engineers know the difference. Marketing and Sales do not.

[@MrGingGangGooly]

Always 🤣 I used to attend the quarterly sales meetings from an old tech firm that I worked for back in the 90’s. Trying to get them to understand that on a modem (woohoo) V.22 vs V.22bis was double the speed @double the cost because every recent order that had come in was for the new tech V.22bis modems using the older prices. I told them to stick to the actual baud rate, which they all knew. Us ‘techies’ would worry about the actual part numbers V.22 numbers etc.

[@tubeDude48]

Gary, at 11:20, where did you get that shot from? I've looked everywhere!

[@Care2WorldBuild]

I remember the days of Firewire (IEEE 1394a) and how I loved the ability to chain devices over USB's master/slave roles. I thought it would win out, but now it leaves me a drive sitting idly by as a historical landmark. Other issues in that day were trying to find even faster storage solutions and looking early at networked storage over Firewire 400 and 800 hard drives so that we could edit and move scratch disks for Final Cut Pro, after all gigabit Ethernet was the fastest thing I could see then to transfer video data at the time. So much has changed, but thinking through different protocols, encoding, and that overhead made for interesting hardware choices back then. Glad things are more settled now. Or are they?

[@MikeG4936]

First USB explainer video that actually made sense to me.

[@EyesOfByes]

Best USB explainer on KZbin.

[@hakemblue]

The explanation was surprisingly fun , thank you man

[@GaryExplains]

Glad you liked it!

[@AlexanderTerczka]

I think there's a bug in the bandwidth chart you used. usb 1.x was 1.5Mbit and 12Mbit for Fullspeed. so the chart should actualky show 0.012 Gbit and not 0.12

[@GaryExplains]

Good catch 👍

[@saswatsarangi6669]

R the charging rate not different? On Apple or other laptop I don't remember

[@GaryExplains]

I only covered USB-PD in passing. There are lots of different levels of power supported. Both IN and OUT.

[@leledumbo]

Even after your explanation, I still wonder what the USB IF people drank when they made all of these catastrophy.

[@test40323]

Goodness! So confusing. Thank you for your clear and no nonsense explanation.

[@GaryExplains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@actorjay]

Hi, Gary. So when Apple says the iPhone 15 Pro uses USB 3 with data transfer speeds of 10 gbs, which USB protocol is it actually using? And how is it different from the USB in the regular iPhone 15? Please explain! Thanks.

[@TRRDroid]

Late reply but it would either be 3.1 Gen 2 or 3.2 Gen 2 (I'd just call it 3.1 without the Gen bullshit). The regular on the other hand just uses the old USB 2.0 standard.

[@daveac]

Great - however on my Mini NUC Core i5 12th PC one of the USB's has a 'battery' symbol overlaid on the SS 10 - so yet more symbols to look out for?

[@swede7581]

question? usb 3.2 vs usb c 3.2 gen 2 on my pc and i bought a external ssd with a usb c to usb b(into pc) it was also some one who told me to buy a usb c to usb c 20gbps cable instead of the cable that was in same box as my external ssd(I did this and just connected it to my pc) So the transfer speeds of 400mb/s went up to 687mb/s so it was definatly faster....This i could see without a doubt myself.. But my question is this because i game from my external ssd and loading times has been good will the loading times be even faster now after i got this usb c to c 3.2 gen 2 cable(or is it no differences when it comes to games loading times and only faster when i transfer big game files between my nvme to external ssd"this i saw at once,but loading times w games i dont kno??9 Also why did my external ssd come with a slower usb c to b cable and not the faster? kingston xs1000 2tb is the name if anybody knows this because its just sad to if they dont ship the faster cable and just the older n slower instead(Is this because there are not enough people using usb c ports on pc or what could be the reason to this??) Thanks n must say this was a great video(i have never been aware of all the different speeds(i knew about usb2.0 and usb3.0 and that was it)

[@user-jc23]

Au bout du compte quel est l'avantage REEL pour un utilisateur ""normal"" ?

[@GaryExplains]

Speed

[@nir8924]

So, if USB gen 2 is X1 and read speed 2 is R2 then the next generation of D1 will become .. R2D2 ?

[@InquisitiveUniverse]

A fellow Star Wars fan I see.

[@nir8924]

@@InquisitiveUniverse who isn't , but I'm also confused AF#D2 🤓 (With the insane USB naming scheme)

[@InquisitiveUniverse]

@@nir8924 it's their world, we just live in it. Personally I'll memorize the last slide and pass it on to my audience.

[@lint2023]

Thanks. Very useful. ... The naming group needs what is refereed to as a "dope slap".

[@StaySic4Ever]

I'm mostly baffled how slow USB-C adoption is so slow, companies slacking so much. Also lack of USB4 ports even on expensive boards and lack of devices still.

[@EyesOfByes]

5:23 Why couldnt they also make the 3DXpoint specs and protocols open source, since they're shutting down the Optane business anyway.

[@eddyhaze8239]

and if your doing a pc build only intel has this usb-4.0 , ..... me wanting to do a small build with a monitor on the side and only want 1 cable to it , this won't happen me being a AMD Guy ? .... Right ?

[@GaryExplains]

As far as I know, AMD has support for USB 4 since 2022. A quick search for "amd usb 4" reveals lots of info. Why do you think it is Intel only? This is USB, an international standard. USB 4.0 is even on Apple Silicon (based on Arm and nothing to do with Intel).

[@eddyhaze8239]

@@GaryExplains I don't see any USB 4.0 thunderbolt on AMD motherboards only Intel , I'm doing a AMD build right now that has USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20Gbps Type-C port can this output video through this cable ? or will I have to use HDMI ?

[@GaryExplains]

A quick google search for "amd motherboard with USB 4" gave me this www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/motherboards/msi-x870e-carbon-wifi-motherboard-review I didn't bother searching any further.

[@seancondon5572]

Can anyone imagine a world where USB never really took off? Would firewire have developed into what USB is today? Would external drives use eSATA? Would printers use turbocharged parallel ports? Would mice and keyboards still be using the 6-pin PS/2 style interface? Would phones still use barrel jacks to charge? We would be in a VERY different world if USB hadn't caught on.

[@PaigeEscapes]

Can I put a usb 3.0 in a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port/plug ( which in on a new Mac air that ) or is there an adapter? Sorry I probably sound really dumb. (My external hard drive has a usb 3.0 ( think it’s just 3.0) & if I get a new MacBook Air, will have a usb 3.1 gen 2 . Hence the question (I’m sure there are ways to sort it all out , even if I needed to get someone else to organise it. And I am going to be buying a new external hard drive now as a backup. ).

[@GaryExplains]

USB is backwards compatible so you can connect a USB 3.0 drive into a MacBook Air. However if your drive has a type A connection (which I guess it does) then you will need a USB Type A to USB-C adapter. Apple has one and there are many third party ones.

[@PaigeEscapes]

@@GaryExplains thank you so much!!!! I plug my hard drive into my current MacBook via a 3.0 usb cable . Can I just put that into the 3.1 gen 2 port of the MacBook Air?

[@GaryExplains]

The MacBook Air only has USB-C ports. So, as I said, if your drive has a type A connection (which I guess it does) then you will need a USB Type A to USB-C adapter. Apple has one for sale and there are many third party ones.

[@PaigeEscapes]

@@GaryExplains oh! Thank you so incredibly much! I thought they had usb 3.1 gen 2 ( based on what I read on apple ). Thank you!!!!

[@GaryExplains]

Don't confuse the connector type and the relevant USB standard. Some USB 3.x ports can be USB type A or USB-C (depending on the revision and/or generation). The MacBook Air has USB-C ports.

[@mentalplayground]

3:30 onwards, superb. Simple.

[@slm60uk]

“The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.” ― Andrew S. Tanenbaum

[@ianharper6015]

Very clear and helpful. Thank you.

[@GaryExplains]

Glad it was helpful!

[@wilsonlee63]

All this basically the same data transfer rates but renamed & x1, x2's are confusing, why not call them USB Pro, USB Max & USB Ultra like smartphones & then add gen 1, gen 2 etc.... I often missed out on a newer generation of USB versions because retailers doesn't infirm customers trying to clear old stock.

[@c.l.mcintosh624]

Thank you Gary that was very helpful to me.

[@GaryExplains]

Glad it helped

[@jimspc07]

Yes fine! I think! But the Chinese sellers of addon bits and bobs will call whatever they sell whatever they want again. Thus confusing confusion even more, so the seller confusion of Aliexpress terminology and naming flows to ebay and Amazon as the sellers look for new selling platforms. And no. Confusion of confusion does not mean it is all corrected. Two wrongs still do not make a right.

[@Rhyrkon]

Thank you for the explanation!

[@Xi_Jinping_is_Pooh]

Question is, when are they going to change it again?

[@MatthewHarrold]

What a bloody mess. It seems variety is the spice of life that gives you the toilet runs and mouth blisters at once, all while not requiring the ingestion of any food. $0.02

[@jpino528]

I just had the biggest WTF in my life trying to understand the 3.x standard.

[@andrewbig9806]

Thanks for this!

[@angelthman1659]

It would have been nice if you had pictures of USBs as you were describing them so we know which one you're talking about and how they look.

[@sunsky5863]

do you recommend me buying a phone with usb 2.0?

[@phil2768]

3 minutes in, my head hurts! 🤕

[@bharatk6790]

Will my external hard disk work faster if use usb 3.1 instead of usb 2 ?

[@davenpaul5354]

excellent explanation tq

[@Matt-hm9uo]

Very useful info, thx !

[@krish2nasa]

Informative. Thank you very much.

[@RohiGupta]

very informative video

[@johnsimon8457]

The annoying bit is that you can’t physically tell the difference between a $10 Amazon Basics cable for charging your phone and a $150 I bought this Thunderbolt 4 special at the Apple Store

[@CertifiedSlamboy]

All of my TB4 cables have a symbol on it to make it identifiable

[@ronmaximilian6953]

I'm glad that there's a new naming system because USB 3.1 and USB 3.2 were nightmares

[@clifforddicarlo9178]

YOur explanation of the various USB xx standards NEEDS to specify the MAXIMUM DISTANCE over which USB xx can RELIABLY transmit the data.

[@Hash9377]

Thank you for this good sir!!!

[@XSpImmaLion]

Yeah... USB's naming convention is like throwing perfume on a pile of hot garbage in a hot and humid summer day to see if it "fixes" the whole thing. It's one of the most insanely idiotic naming conventions I've ever heard. The problem isn't only about understanding what it is, it's about identifying what devices have what - which manufacturers conveniently won't list or tell, btw - then testing a whole combination of ports and cables to see what works and what doesn't because of a standard that cannot work as a standard, and then after you went through all that multiple times over, you have to keep managing all those devices and cables that you don't know exactly what will work and what won't because of this entire mess. And then to further make things worse, now we're dealing with enough power to fry devices and potentially even cause fires. Between USB 1 and 2 you didn't really have much of a problem because even if stuff was poorly made, because it was low powered, things just wouldn't work and that was it. Now, if you have a poorly made USB-C cable or out of spec device, you could fry something up, as happened early on. You pick any random USB A to USB C cable laying around, you have no way of telling it it's a USB 2 power only cable, all the way up to the latest USB 4 spec with full support. It's just a total shitshow. Anyways, rant over, let me give a tip for people with this problem... go to Amazon, Aliexpress or other platforms and search for "USB cable tester", look for a bare circuit board device with multiple connectors. Some will have 6 different connector types, some will have 9 - between USB-C, USB A, micro USB, and then perhaps it could have USB B, micro B, mini B and whatnot. And then a bunch of leds in the middle of the board. You just plug cables from one side to another and the led indicators will tell you what the cable supports. It's a life saver.

[@davidfrancis9000]

Well done

[@franciscocerutimahn]

The USB naming committee is to be renamed the "Universally Stupid Board of confusement and fuckery" or USBcf 1x2 Gen 3.2 version 1 - revised edition...fast 22.5 Gbps ....AAAHHHRAAHAHHH!!!

[@saswatsarangi6669]

1 thing is true I've never seen in my life that 2008 upto speed, like ever!! That speed never reached by any file type transfer

[@GaryExplains]

Well obviously file transfer speed is determined by the speed of the disk drive. If it was a mechanical HDD from 2008 then there is no way it would match those speeds. The drive is the bottleneck not the data path.

[@EyesOfByes]

Beware of Thunderbolt 3 cables that DO NOT support Displayport. I bought Belking TB3 2M Active and discovered it doesnt support Displayport

[@amermeleitor]

USB naming give me headaches

[@Sierra-Whisky]

It should be having one more rename: UMB. Universally Mind Boggling 😅

[@pa1kumarbhukya]

This clears my usb pendrive buying confusion 😂

[@myvideos9811]

I SUPPOSE THE NEED IS FOR FASTER SPEEDS AND TO KEEP THE MONEY COMING IN. IT USED TO BE A SIMPLE PLUG-AND-PLAY DUE TO GOOD PROGRAMMING. NOT ANYMORE ITS JUST ONE RIDDLE AFTER ANOTHER. WE ARE GETTING PIS-T OFF

[@guilherme5094]

👏👏👏Thanks!

[@hichamhsr6350]

I've never been more confused

[@EyesOfByes]

2:36 USB naming is so messed up even you accidently said "gigabyte"... ;)

[@Garythefireman66]

Thanks professor!

[@BLKBRDSR71]

Instead of naming USB 3 using confusing terms, why not just name USB 3 based on their speed? For example... USB 3 5Gb/s USB 3 10Gb/s (single lane) USB 3 10Gb/s (dual lane) USB 3 20Gb/s This would be WAY more simple. (oh great, now I need to patent this) 😁

[@Lance.planes.and.more1]

You lost me at 'let me explain' but good video as always

[@GaryExplains]

😂 I didn't actually say that in this video!

[@Lance.planes.and.more1]

@@GaryExplains really? Guess I just assumed you did. I even hear it in my dreams 😂

[@sylvershadow1247]

USB naming is so confusing... I have to double check what each of them means EVERYTIME!!

[@AndersHass]

Apple also helped develop various things for Thunderbolt like the minidisplay port it was using from the beginning on Macs. But it is primarily Intel that develops it and I think has full ownership of it (at least the later versions). Apple applied for the trademark but gave it to Intel. I dunno if Apple has lost some ownership since they started to make their own CPUs for Macs instead of using Intels.

[@DeeegerD]

Clear as mud.

[@iamfaiz87]

Nice video

[@GaryExplains]

Thanks

[@fuseteam]

Huh thought it was USB4 20Gbps in case of it being usb4 🤔

[@burhanbudak6041]

That's a OnePlus USB cable and they kept using USB2.0 for years.

[@brianmcguigan4785]

As clear as mud!

[@YounesLayachi]

Perpetuating "USB 4.0" or "USB 4" is harmful to consumers because not only does it go against the original material, but it is also worse for SEO and creates confusion. There's a reason it's USB4 , the marketing is clearer and avoids nonsensical questions like "what is USB 4.0 v2.0" ???"

[@GaryExplains]

But USB4 Version 2.0, as specified by the USB-IF, is OK? 🤷‍♂️

[@YounesLayachi]

My keyboard corrected my intentional mistake, I meant to write the mistake "USB 4" not USB4

[@GaryExplains]

Changing the naming scheme yet again, is just confusing. USB 4.0 gen 2 would have been more consistent. The point is that the USB-IF promoted a naming scheme with a ".x" part and now it wants to change that and expects that those decades of branding will just be forgotten. The problem is the USB-IF perpetuating USB4, not the other way around. USB4 Version 2.0 isn't remotely consistent. But when has the USB-IF been consistent?

[@AlexHusTech]

*What a mess lol*

[@gwojcieszczuk]

That USB governing body must have been completely on crack to come up with these USB revision codes. Thanks, Gary.

[@cfeigel]

meh . . . I think I'll wait for USB 6.66 PhD DDS AM/FM eXtreme!!!

[@GaryExplains]

You missed the "pro max" out!

[@blackpurple9163]

So maybe I have multiple USB in the same physical male type-c 😂

[@mortaza3840]

Don't get confused… Just remember USB is USB…

[@GaryExplains]

🤦‍♂️

[@init_yeah]

Gj as usual ❤

[@saswatsarangi6669]

So basically 😅 usb 3.0 😅 is non-existent

[@someoneyouneverknow7529]

USB-A or USB-C? Either way both exist

[@YounesLayachi]

@@someoneyouneverknow7529 USB C can't be 3.0.

[@BersekViking]

OMG! Chaos!

[@phatmeow7764]

i propose future dev of the old firewire and the 1st would be called DragonFireWire 1.0 which has a speed of 50 Gbit/s! u know nothing nerd snow!

[@Llucius1]

the usb 3.2 is really confusing.

[@GrueTurtle]

Go home, usb-if, you're drunk

[@onlyeyeno]

Clear as MUD ;)

[@BLKBRD-SR71]

If the USB 3 naming comity is watching, I have a simpler solution. USB 3 5Gbps USB 3 10Gbps USB 3 20Gbps Problem solved.

[@kubectlgetpo]

Omg. Are they crazy?

[@johnggudmundson]

In one ear, out the other...

[@GaryExplains]

Sounds painful 😜

[@johnggudmundson]

@@GaryExplains Love what you do Gary! I'm pretty technical, but on the USB front I've mostly trusted that the USB interfaces found on most devices are chosen to be as compatible as possible for most users. At least in my circumstances, that's worked fine.

[@GaryExplains]

Yes, but if you wanted to buy some external storage or direct attached storage with RAID then knowing the USB capabilities of the device and of the host is important, don't you think?

[@johnggudmundson]

@@GaryExplains For sure; I'd want to do my research before doing that kind of setup and I'd trust your video as a resource.

[@lisab3396]

👍👍

[@TimothyChapman]

USB needs to be replaced.

[@GaryExplains]

Really, why? What with?

[@TimothyChapman]

@@GaryExplains The USB-IF keeps changing the names of everything.

[@GaryExplains]

I know that, a large part of the video is about that. But why does that mean that USB needs to be replaced? I don't understand.

[@TimothyChapman]

@@GaryExplains We need a standards body that does not constantly change the names of old versions of the standard.

[@GaryExplains]

Sorry, I don't understand. What has the naming got to do with the actual USB tech, the speed, the power/charging, the ports, the cables? What don't you like about USB that it needs to be replaced? What standard would you prefer?

[@Xiaoxiaoxiaomao]

🎉

[@bmanske1]

What I can't figure out is... Do I need to throw away my so called fast / universal / High Speed 3.0 chargers or will they still work with the new devices with 3.2 ports. I don't really care if they charge slowly and may not keep up with power consumption. I would like to change out my charging stations over time rather than a big investment all at once.

[@GaryExplains]

I didn't really cover charging, but the chargers are always backwards compatible, just slower, as you said.

[@bmanske1]

@@GaryExplains Great! Thank you very much.

[@chualcvn9832]

Just use usb4

[@GaryExplains]

Brilliant suggestion 🤪 A couple of problems... a) What if the computer you have doesn't support USB 4? b) What if the peripherals you have or a new one you want to buy isn't available in USB 4? What then?