intel_infoframes

intel_infoframes [-d ] [-t ] [-r | -w ] [--dump] [-h]

-d, --device
    DRM device (default: card0)

-t, --type
    InfoFrame type: avi, audio, spd, vs_cea861, vs_hfvsdb, drm

-r, --read
    Read current InfoFrame

-w, --write
    Write raw hex data to InfoFrame

--dump
    Dump all active InfoFrames

-h, --help
    Show usage

The intel_infoframes utility interacts with the Intel i915 DRM driver's debugfs interface to read, write, or dump HDMI/DisplayPort InfoFrames. InfoFrames are metadata packets transmitted during video blanking periods, describing signal properties like resolution, colorimetry, audio format, and HDR metadata.

Common InfoFrame types include AVI (Auxiliary Video Information for aspect ratio, scan info), Audio (speaker allocation, channel layout), SPD (Source Product Description), and Vendor-Specific (e.g., Intel HDR static metadata). This tool is essential for developers debugging display pipelines, testing dynamic range features, or verifying compliance in multi-monitor setups with Intel GPUs (e.g., Skylake+).

Access requires mounted debugfs (mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug) and typically root privileges. Output shows hexadecimal dumps or human-readable formats. It's part of Intel graphics tooling ecosystem, aiding kernel hackers and QA engineers.

Requires root and debugfs mount. Write operations may disrupt display. Limited to Intel i915 driver; test on supported hardware only.

Uses /sys/kernel/debug/dri/<id>/i915_{connector}_infoframe files.

intel_infoframes -d 0 -t avi -r to read AVI InfoFrame from card0.

Added in intel-gpu-tools v1.0 (circa 2019) alongside i915 HDR support in Linux 4.19+. Evolved with DP 1.4 Alt Mode and HDMI 2.1 features.

modetest(1), drm_info(1), intel_reg(1), v4l2-ctl(1)