After years of rejection from the HDMI Forum, AMD is preparing full open-source HDMI 2.1 support for Linux. The company has submitted the first set of Linux kernel patches, focusing on the Fixed Rate Link (FRL) feature exclusive to HDMI 2.1, bringing a complete implementation to the open-source AMDGPU driver after years of dedicated development work.

This technical advancement enables higher bandwidth support, effectively allowing 4K at 120 Hz and 5K at 240 Hz resolutions on AMD GPUs running Linux-based systems. The new HDMI 2.1 standard replaces the currently supported HDMI 2.0 in AMDGPU open-source graphics drivers, addressing the higher data bandwidth requirements for these high-resolution displays and improving Linux gaming capabilities.

Valve has played a crucial role in this development, leveraging its Steam Machine hardware that uses AMD graphics and runs on SteamOS Linux. The company reportedly attempted to persuade the HDMI Forum leadership to approve the open-source implementation after AMD had invested significant engineering resources over several months. Despite the HDMI Forum claiming the implementation was impossible without violating fair use requirements, AMD's recent submissions suggest tangible progress in their open-source initiative.