Parallel port Parallel port A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once, in parallel communication, as opposed to serial interfaces that send bits one at a time. To do this, parallel ports require multiple data lines in their cables and port connectors, and tend to be larger than contemporary serial ports which only require one data line. There are many types of parallel ports, but the term has become most closely associated with the
Serial digital interface application and interoperability. An 8-bit parallel digital interface is defined by ITU-R Rec. 601; this is obsolete (however, many clauses in the various standards accommodate the possibility of an 8-bit interface). In SD and ED applications, the serial data format is defined to 10 bits wide, whereas in HD applications, it is 20 bits wide, divided into two parallel 10-bit datastreams (known as Y and C). The SD datastream is arranged like this: whereas the HD datastreams are arranged like this: For all serial digital interfaces (excluding the obsolete composite encodings), the native color encoding is YCbCr format. The luminance