What is an HDMI Splitter? HDMI means High Definition Multimedia Interface and was developed in 2003. Today, HDMI is the favourite interface for video and audio. Thats why almost all new televisions and monitors have an HDMI input and all computers DVD players and consoles have an HDMI output. If only one HDMI output or only one HDMI signal is available, the signal can be cloned with the help of an HDMI Splitter and thereby, display on multiple screens simultaneously.

HDMI Splitter

An HDMI splitter has one HDMI input and many HDMI outputs, there are HDMI splitters with up to 16 outputs. Usually, splitters with two or four output ports are used.

With an HDMI splitter, it is possible to clone the HDMI cables signal to many other HDMI cables. Therefore, for example, it is possible to show the HDMI signal from a computer on a monitor and television simultaneously. To do this, the outgoing HDMI cable form the computer is plugged into the input port of the splitter. Both output ports are each connected with an HDMI cable with the television or monitor. Then the image is on both monitors at the same time.

HDMI Switch

Actually, every new television and monitor has many HDMI inputs so that many devices like DVD player and a game console, for example can be connected simultaneously. Older screens have only one HDMI input, then the cables have to plugged and unplugged in order to use the other device. This is where an HDMI switch is helpful.

An HDMI switch is the opposite of a splitter. The HDMI switch has many HDMI inputs and one HDMI output. This way many devices can be connected with the HDMI inputs from the HDMI switch and the output port can be connected with the HDMI cable with one screen. After, it is possible – without unplugging a cable to select which device should be shown on the screen.

Details of the differences between an HDMI splitter, an HDMI switch and an HDMI matrix can be found in the article HDMI Splitter vs Switch vs Matrix.

Resolution and 3D over HDMI Splitter

Regular HDMI splitters support a resolution up to 1080p Full Hd. In the meantime, there are already many HDMI splitters that support resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD 2160p. These splitters just cost a little more than those with Full HD resolution. It is recommended to purchase an HDMI splitter with 4K resolution in order to be prepared for the future! The quality of this HDMI splitter is astonishingly good, image and audio are transmitted without loss of quality.


Many probably think that the image quality suffers through the HDMI splitter. That is not true! Since the HDMI signal is digital, it can be copied as often as necessary without suffering loss of quality. Malfunctions may occur only when poor quality HDMI splitters or HDMI cables are used. That is why I only present splitters and cables of high quality on this page where there were no impairments in the review. More information can be found in the article HDMI Splitter loss of quality.


The audio track is also transmitted over the HDMI cable. When using an HDMI splitter, the audio as well as the image are copied and transmitted to all the HDMI splitters outputs. The audio is transmitted without problems and without loss of quality like the image. In doing so, the HDMI splitter can even be specifically used. If you have, for example, a television and a separate sound system, with the help of an HDMI splitter one HDMI cable can be used to transmit the image to the television and the second for the audio transmission to the sound system. More information can be found in the article HDMI Splitter Audio.


Once all questions have been answered, we now have the difficult decision, which splitter should be bought. I have reviewed various HDMI splitters and created one HDMI Splitter review with an HDMI splitter comparison. There you will find the best HDMI splitters that worked without problems in the review and only have positive customer reviews. The test winner is the OREI 1×2 HDMI splitter, which I can only recommend.