---
name: "get-edid"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "read-edid"
version: "3.0.2-5"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/get-edid"
---

# get-edid(1)

read-edid tools to retrieve and interpret monitor specifications using the VESA VBE DDC protocol

## NAME

get-edid, parse-edid - read-edid tools to retrieve and interpret monitor specifications using the VESA VBE DDC protocol

## SYNOPSIS

**get-edid** \[*OPTIONS*\] \| **parse-edid**\
 **get-edid** \[*OPTIONS*\] \> *filename*\
 **parse-edid** \< *filename*

## DESCRIPTION

The *read-edid* utility comprises two tools: **get-edid** and **parse-edid**.

**get-edid** uses real mode calls to perform Data Display Channel (DDC) transfers, or Linux i2c calls to perform Enhanced DDC transfers to retrieve information from monitors, including identification strings, supported sync ranges, available video modes, and video mode parameters. Such information can be useful for configuring X Window System servers in certain cases.

**get-edid** returns the raw Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) block directly from the monitor, so the **parse-edid** command is available to interpret it and generate a human-readable block of text information that can also be included in a X11 xorg.conf file.

Generally the output of **get-edid** is piped directly to **parse-edid**.

New in version 3.0.0, **get-edid** takes a few options.

- **-b** *BUS*, **--bus** *BUS*

  *only scan the i2c bus BUS* (if built with i2c support)

- **-c**, **--classiconly**

  **only use the older VBE interface (if built with i2c and VBE support)**

- **-h**, **--help**

  **display a basic help message**

- **-i**, **--i2conly**

  **only use the newer i2c interface (if built with i2c and VBE support)**

- **-m** *NUM*, **--monitor** *NUM*

  *try to return information about monitor number NUM* (VBE only)

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  **do not output messages over stderr**

**parse-edid** **still does not take any options. --help** will show you which options your build of *read-edid* supports.

## AUTHOR

*read-edid* is originally the work of John Fremlin and others. Since 1.4.2, the new maintainer and programmer has been Matthew Kern. Nearly all of the code for this project, as well as this manual page, has been rewritten for 3.0.0 by Matthew Kern. See AUTHORS for more details.

## SEE ALSO

Matthew Kern's *read-edid* website at \<http://polypux.org/projects/read-edid\>