USB 3.2 Gen 2
USB · 4 specs
Direct Answer
Originally released as USB 3.1 in July 2013, this 10 Gbit/s tier used more efficient 128b/132b encoding than USB 3.0's 8b/10b. It was renamed USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 in 2017 alongside USB 3.0's rename to Gen 1x1 -- both generations kept identical real-world hardware, with only the marketing name changing.
Source: USB-IF · Last reviewed Aug 28, 2026
Specs
| Original Name | USB 3.1 Gen 2 (July 2013) |
| Current Name | USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (also marketed as "USB 10Gbps") |
| Max Bandwidth / Data Rate | 10 Gbit/s |
| Encoding | 128b/132b (more efficient than USB 3.0's 8b/10b) |
A Second Rename, Same Pattern
USB 3.1, published July 2013, doubled SuperSpeed's data rate to 10 Gbit/s and switched to 128b/132b line encoding -- a more bandwidth-efficient scheme than USB 3.0's 8b/10b, recovering more of the raw signaling rate as usable throughput. USB 3.1 itself technically included two speed tiers (Gen 1 at 5 Gbit/s, identical to USB 3.0, and Gen 2 at the new 10 Gbit/s), which is part of why the naming already felt layered even before the 2017 rename.
When USB 3.2 arrived in September 2017, the 10 Gbit/s tier was renamed USB 3.2 Gen 2x1, following the same pattern as USB 3.0's rename to Gen 1x1 -- the actual 10 Gbit/s hardware and cables were completely unchanged by the new name.