Most users of technology wouldn’t know the difference between a USB cable and a HDMI cable, so I’ve prepared this quick go-to-guide whenever you want to know what cable to ask for – so you at least sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Visual Guide to Computer Cables and Connectors

USB Cables and Connectors

What does USB stand for? Universal Serial Bus – a type of computer port which can be used to connect equipment to a computer.

USB cables are used to connect most new devices to your computer including modems, digital cameras, memory sticks (flash drives) and portable media players. Computer peripherals, accessories, like keyboards, mouse, web cams, portable hard-drives, printers, speakers, etc. can also be connected to the computer through USB ports. Also used to connect to a power source.

The standard USB connector is a USB-A and is present on every USB cable – this is the end that connects to your computer. The other end of the USB cable can have many different connectors, here are a few:

• USB Type-A: The standard USB cable. Present on one end of every USB cable, unless it is a USB 3.0 (which looks similar, but is used for faster data transfer)
  
• USB Type-B: One of two standard USB connectors and most common on a printer connection cable
  
• USB Type-C: the newest USB connector on the market. Some android mobile phones, Apple TV also uses this when initiating a manual update
  
• USB Type-A Male-Female: A common use for this type of connector cable is to extend the USB cable length, an extension cable for USB’s
  
• USB 8-Pin Lightning: iPhones and iPad’s use this type of connector
  
• USB 3.0 Type-A: This connector is commonly used for devices requiring fast data transfer. Looks on the outside exactly the same as the USB Type A, but the USB  3.0 has additional pins
  
• USB 3.0 Type-B: This connector is designed to carry data and power for USB Super-Speed applications
  
• USB Mini-B (5-Pin): Commonly used for connecting digital cameras, MP3 players, PDA and some mobile phones
  
• USB Mini-B (4-Pin): Originally, the port was developed for use on some Kodak cameras and other small digital devices
  
• USB Micro Type-A: This connector can be found on newer mobile devices such as cellphones, GPS units, PDAs and digital cameras
  
• USB Micro Type-B: Same features as the Type A above
  

Audio Cables and Connectors

• 3.5mm headphone jack: most common audio cable is the standard headphone jack, otherwise known as a TSR connector. Most speakers and microphones can connect to the computer with these audio cables.
  
• Digital Optical Audio: For high-end audio to connect the output of a DVD player or a set-top box to a Dolby home theater, you need the TOSLINK (or S/PDIF) connector
  

Video Cables and Connectors

• VGA: One of the most common video connectors for computer monitors and high-definition TVs is the VGA cable. A standard VGA connector has 15-pins and other than connecting a computer to a monitor, you may also use a VGA cable to connect your laptop to a TV screen or a projector.
• DVI Monitor Port: A DVI cable has 29 pins, though some connectors may have less pins depending on their configuration. DVI’s video signal is compatible with HDMI, so a simple converter can allow a DVI monitor to receive input from an HDMI cable.
  

Audio and Video Cables and Connectors

• RCA Connector Cables: RCA connector cables are a bundle of 2-3 cables including Composite Video (colored yellow) and Stereo Audio cables (red for right channel and white or black for the left audio channel)
  
• HDMI Cables: HDMI is the new standard that provide both audio and video transmission through a single cable (see above)
• DisplayPort: A combined digital video and audio cable that is more commonly used in computers is DisplayPort that support resolutions up to 2560 × 1600 × 60 Hz, and additionally support up to 8 channels of digital audio (see above)

I hope this article has helped you a little bit with being able to define what cable connector is what.

If there is anything here I am missing, or perhaps got it wrong, please send me an email to   to let me know.