Audio
2.5mm & 3.5mm TRS
Cables 
● TRS connector (T stands for "tip", R stands for "ring" and S stands for "sleeve") is more commonly known as the “Headphone Jack” on portable mp3 players and mobile phones.
● The cable is ideal for connecting a stereo audio output, such as an mp3 player or phone, to a stereo audio input, such as the auxiliary input on a car stereo system.While most new mobile devices use the 3.5mm headphone jack, some use a smaller 2.5mm version.
RCA Audio Cables 
● These cables are for basic audio connections.
● Used to send stereo audio signals to most common devices.
XLR Cables 
● These cables send analog or digital audio signals through 3 pins. These cables are less susceptible to external noises and offer exceptional sound quality over periods of time.
● Used to send analog or digital audio signals to and from professional audio equipment like amplifiers and microphones.
Digital Coaxial Audio
Cables 
● These cables resemble standard RCA connections. Your next best choice when HDMI or Optical audio cables are not an option.
● Used to send digital audio signals from devices like your satellite box or CD/DVD player to your surround sound or home theatre receivers.
Optical Audio
Cables 
● These cables transmit digital audio signals as pulses of light, therefore are practically impervious to interference. Your next best choice when HDMI cables are not an option.
● Used to send digital audio signals from most devices like CD/DVD players, cable/satellite boxes or laptops to surround sound or home theatre receivers.
Video
VGA/ SVGA 
● VGA cables (which stand for Video Graphics Array) have 15 pin connectors and are most commonly found on computers.
● Used to carry low resolution (640×480 -800×600 for SVGA) analog video signals from computers to monitors or projectors.
DVI 
● DVI cables (which stands for Digital Visual Interface) come with connection variationsuch as DVI-D (digital only), DVI-A (analog only), or DVI-I (digital and analog). These connections can have a single or dual links.
● Used to carry digital and analog signals usually from computer devices to monitors. DVI is also present in some consumer electronics such as television sets,although most new sets only offer HDMI all-digital connectors.
M1 (P&D) Cables 
● M1 cables (also known as P&D cables) work just like the DVI cables – carrying digital signals from devices such as a computer to a projector.
RG-58 Cables 
● RG-58 cables are a type of coaxial cable (with a BNC twist on connector) often used for low-power signal and RF (radio frequency) connections.
● These cables are most often used for two-way radio communication systems (such as marine-CB or police radios or WLAN antennas).
RCA/BNC/13W3 Video
Cables 
● RCA/BNC/13W3 video cables are a combination cables for CCTV(Closed-circuit television).
● These cables carry audio and video signals between cameras and the receivers and monitors.
Composite(RCA) 
● Composite cables (also known as RCA cables) are basically RCA audio cables with an added yellow video connector.
● Used to carry analog audio and video signals, with resolution up to 480i, usually from older TVs to VCRs or other devices with no option for higher quality.
Component 
● Component cables are a step up from Composite – Svideo or RF cables. They split the signal into 3 parts with each part transmitted by its own cable.
● These high-definition capable cables carry video analog signals when HDMI isn’t an option. Depending on the compatibility of the devices connected, they can provide a resolution up to 1080p.
HDMI 
● HDMI cables (which stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface) comes with 3 different sized connections; standard – mini & micro. MINI HDMI isused on many new high definition camcorders and high resolution DSLR cameras (like Sony or Canon for example). MICRO HDMI is the smallest current HDMI connector. It is used on mobile devices like HTC, Samsung or Motorola. The standard version of HDMI is the first choice when connecting any HDMI ready devices.
● Used to carry high definition digital video signals avoiding most picture degradation that can come with analog signals. These cables can be used with a wide variety of devices like HD satellite or cable boxes, laptops, media or home theatre receivers to HD monitors.
DisplayPort 
● Displayport cables have 2 variations: Mini & Standard. The Displayport cable is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device like a monitor.
● Mini DisplayPort is capable of driving resolutions (with audio) up to 2560×1600. With a suitable adapter, Mini DisplayPort may be used to drive displays with a VGA, DVI or HDMI interface.
Thunderbolt 
● Thunderbolt cables allow the connection of external peripherals that have this port to a computer.
● It has the same connector as a Mini Displayport cable although is made for data transfer.
NETWORK
Category 5e- 6 & 7 
● All 4 types basically look the same, the extra twists and better shielding in the higher categories allows greater amounts of data to be transmitted.
● Category 5 cable (Cat 5) is a twisted pair cable, this type of cable is used for computer networks such as Ethernet and is also used to carry other signals such as telephone and video. The cable standard provides performance of up to 100 MHz
● Category 6 cable- commonly referred to as Cat 6, is a standardized cable for Gigabit Ethernet. Compared with Cat 5e, Cat 6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. The cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz
● Category 7 cable- is able to achieve higher performance than preceding Ethernet standards such as Cat5e and Cat 6 by requiring each of its twisted wire pairs to be fully shielded, The Cat 7 standard provides performance of up to 600 MHz.
Fiber Optics
● Fiber Optic cables are a network cable that carries digital information over long distances.
● These cables are used in telephone systems, cable tv or the Internet. There are 4 variations of the connection type: SC - ST-LC & MTRJ.
SC (square connectors) is frequently used for newer Network applications, SC has an advantage in keyed duplexibility to support send/receive channels
ST (straight tip) is a type of connector used in fiber optic networking, which uses light rather than electrical signals to transmit data. These are used in data centers, short to medium range network links, and military and security applications.
LC( little connector) is only half the size of a ST or SC connector. It uses a 1.25mm diameter ferrule, the tiny white cylinder. The LC has very good performance and is highly favored for single mode fiber applications.
MTRJ( Mechanical Transfer Registered Jack) is one of the newly emerging small form factor connectors that are becoming more common in the networking industry. The MTRJ utilizes two fibers and integrates them into a single design that looks similar to a RJ45 connector.
Crossover Cable
● Cross-over cables- This type of cable is used to connect two similar devices to one another without a switch in the middle. A crossover cable can be used to connect a PC directly to another PC, or one switch to another.
Serial Cables 
● These cables are used to transfer data between two devices at one time, the most commonly used types of serial cable connectors are 9-pin, used mostly in computers, networking and telecommunication.
Computer
USB
● USB (Universal Serial Bus) is used for the connection of computer peripherals (including keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters) to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. USB has become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles.
● USB has effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as serial and parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices.
2.0 / 3.0
● USB 2.0 is the widely used version of this type of cable.with standard transfer speeds, it is found on most devices.
● USB 3.0 has promising speeds - more than 10X that of it's predecessor. (Up to 5 Gbit/s) These cables will allow you to connect new USB 3.0 devices to your USB 3.0 enabled computer.
Different connectors : with USB 2.0 & 3.0 there are 5 variations. Type A - Type B - Mini A - Mini B - Micro B
Firewire 
● Firewire cables are a serial businterface standard for high-speed communications with real-time data transfer.
● These cables are used inside computers and to connect computer peripherals (like hard drives) to computers. There are 3 variations of connectors : 4 pin - 6 pin & 9 pin.
KVM 
● KVM cables are made to connect keyboard video and mouse applications to a computer.
● These cables are becoming obsolete since modern devices have the ability to connect to other devices and audio via USB or other interfaces like HDMI.
SATA 
● SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) are cables that connect host bus adapters to mass storage devices.
● These cables are used mostly for connecting hard drives to computers.
Adapters
In computing, adapters are a hardware device that sends data from one presentation form to another.
Only same signals can be transferred through adapters.
● Splitter - is a device (can be powered or not) with an input from one device with multiple outputs. (this can be used for transmitted on image on multiple monitors or having a sound broadcast over more than several speaker systems)
● Switch - is a powered device that can allow multiple inputs and one output. This is usually used to connect multiple devices (like cable boxes - media receivers or satellite boxes) to one monitor.
● Converter - is a stand-alone box or a converter cable that allows you to convert signals.This is needed if you are trying to view an analog signal on any type of HD display or vice versa.
● Extender - is a device (or pair of devices) powered with an external power source that allows you to extend the range of certain cables.
Conversion Table
