| Universal Serial Bus | |
|---|---|
 "Universal" is a relative term; we're pretty sure extraterrestrial aliens don't use this | |
| Basic Information | |
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Industry Standard |
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USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, a data transfer format that has become, well, universal in the past several years. The USB standard is used for everything from printers to hard drives, to lights, to flash memory units. The popularity of USB has made the technology inexpensive to the point where basically anyone can make a USB device.
USB has come in several versions over the years: 1.0 in 1996, 1.1 in 1998, 2.0 in 2000, 3.0 in 2008, 3.1 in 2013, 3.2 in 2017 and 4.0 in 2019. Modern implementations allow for things like power over the USB line, and faster data transfer rates. A previously-popular trend in the PC market was to make USB 1.1 hardware and advertise it as "Hi-Speed" USB, which implies 2.0 compatibility, and thus made more money.
USB has featured on the Xbox (as the controller ports were proprietary USB 1.1 connectors), PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One & Xbox One X, PlayStation 4 & PlayStation 4 Pro, and the Nintendo Switch home consoles.