It has largely replaced interfaces such as serial ports and parallel ports and has become commonplace on a wide range of devices. USB was designed to standardize the connection of peripherals to personal computers, both to communicate with and to supply electric power. įirst released in 1996, the USB standards are maintained by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). A broad variety of USB hardware exists, including 14 different connector types, of which USB-C is the most recent and the only one not currently deprecated. Universal Serial Bus ( USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. Serial port, parallel port, game port, Apple Desktop Bus, PS/2 port, and FireWire (IEEE 1394)
