Monitor Serial Numbers

When I look at my monitor’s serial number it is a 20 character serial number, but when I run MIR or other tools they display a 12-13 character serial number. Why is that? 

The answer to that is simple: VESA, the monitor standards organization, has defined “up to 13 alphanumeric characters of a serial number may be stored”. This is why that EDID Serial number is a maximum of 13 characters long.  

When I look at my monitor’s serial number it is a 20 character serial number, but when I run Monitor Information Reporting (MIR) or other tools they display a 12-13 character serial number. Why does it not display the last 13 characters of the serial number? 

This answer is not so simple. Although the standards say “up to 13 alphanumeric characters of a serial number may be stored”, they don’t define which 13 characters are stored. Therefore it is up to the manufacturer to select which part why want to encode within EDID. 

Follow up question: But how can I determine which monitor is the right monitor? Keep watching here for an announcement on how to better handle monitors and their serial numbers.