Ethernet Media Standards and Distances

Reference chart for common ethernet media types. Most of the distances listed are average. Quality fiber and quality vendor optics can typically perform better. This chart is not an exclusive list, and is notably missing WAN PHY and special CWDM and DWDM optics now commonly available.

10/100/1000 on Copper

Standard	Media	distance	notes
10BASE-T	Cat-3 (2 pair)	100m
100BASE-T	Cat-5 (2 pair)	100m
1000BASE-T	Cat-5 (4 pair)	100m	Cat-5e recommended

100 Mbit Fiber

Standard	Media	distance	wavelength
100BASE-FX	62.5µm MMF	2km	1300nm

Gigabit Fiber

Standard	Media	distance	wavelength	notes
1000BASE-SX	62.5µm MMF	220m	850nm
1000BASE-SX	50µm MMF	500m	850nm
1000BASE-LX	62.5µm MMF	550m	1310nm	requires launch conditioning
1000BASE-LX	50µm MMF	550m	1310nm	requires launch conditioning
1000BASE-LX/LH	SMF	10km	1310nm	typical distance
1000BASE-ZX	SMF	70km	1550nm	not standardized

10 Gigabit Fiber

Standard	Media	distance	wavelength	notes
10GBASE-SR	62.5µm MMF	26m-82m	850nm
10GBASE-LRM	62.5µm MMF	220m	1310nm
10GBASE-LX4	62.5µm MMF	300m	1300nm CWDM
10GBASE-SR	50µm OM3	300m	850nm
10GBASE-LRM	50µm OM3	260m	1310nm
10GBASE-LX4	50µm OM3	300m	1300nm CWDM
10GBASE-LR	SMF	10km	1310nm	known to do ~15km
10GBASE-LRM	SMF	300m	1310nm..?	not standardized but certified by some manufacturers such as Cisco
10GBASE-LX4	SMF	10km	1300nm CWDM
10GBASE-ER	SMF	40km	1550nm
10GBASE-ZR	SMF	80-120km	1550nm	not standardized, be careful about chromatic dispersion penalty

10 Gigabit Copper

Standard	Media	distance	notes
10GBASE-CX4	Cat-5e	15m	802.3ap
10GBASE-T	Cat-6 Unshielded	55m	802.3an
10GBASE-T	Cat-6 Shielded	100m	802.3an
10GBASE-T	Cat-6a	100m	802.3an
10GBASE-T	Cat-7	100m	802.3an
10GBASE-TSR10	?	< 10m	Low power autonegotiation. Pre-standard
10GBASE-TSR30	?	< 30m	Low power autonegotiation. Pre-standard
SFP+ Direct Attach	twin-ax	1-10m

40 Gigabit

40GBASE-CR4	Cat-7?	10m	802.3ba
40GBASE-SR4	OM3 MMF	100m	850nm, 4 strands
40GBASE-SR4	OM4 MMF	125m	850nm, 4 strands
40GBASE-LR4	SMF	10km	(4) 10G ~1310nm waves
40GBASE-FR	SMF	10km	(1) 40G 1550nm wave

below information graciously provided by a colleague at ESNet on 2019/07/10

	Distance	Media	Technology	Standard	Transceiver type
100GBASE-LR4	10 km	SMF	4x25G CWDM NRZ 4 wavelengths around 1300nm	802.3ba	QSFP28 CFP4
100GBASE-ER4	40 km	SMF	4x25G CWDM NRZ 4 wavelengths around 1300nm	802.3ba	QSFP28
100GBASE-SR10	100 m OM3 150 m OM4	MMF MPO	10x10G parallel NRZ 850 nm	802.3ba	CFP2
100GBASE-SR4	70 m OM3 100 m OM4	8-pair MMF MPO	4x25G parallel NRZ 850 nm	802.3bm	QSFP28 CFP4
100GBASE-SR2	100 m	2-pair Multimode	2x50G PAM-4 850nm	802.3cd	CFP2
100GBase-SWDM4	75m OM3 100m OM4	MMF	4x25 WDM waves: 850, 880, 910, 940 nm		QSFP28
100GBase-CWDM4	2km	SMF	4 x 25 1310 nm λs FEC is mandatory		QSFP28
100GBase-CLR4	2km	SMF	4 x 25 1310 nm λs Compatibility with CWDM4, except FEC is optional		QSFP28
100GBase-PSM4	500m	2-pair SMF			QSFP28
100GBASE-DR2	500m	Parallel SMF (MPO12)		802.3cd
100GBASE-DF2	500m	SMF	2 x 50	802.3cd

400GBASE-LR8	10 km	SMF	8x50G CWDM PAM4 8 wavelengths around 1300nm	802.3bs	QSFP-DD CFP8
400GBASE-FR8	2 km	SMF	8x50G CWDM PAM4 8 wavelengths around 1300nm	802.3bs	QSFP-DD CFP8
400GBASE-DR4	500 m	4-pair SMF	4x100G parallel PAM4 1300nm	802.3bs	CFP8
400GBASE-SR16	100 m OM4/OM5	16-pair MMF MPO	16x25G parallel NRZ 850nm	802.3bs
400GBASE-DCO Q1-2020	100km	2-pair		tbd	OSFP
400GBASE-SR8	100m	8-pair MMF	8x50G parallel NRA or PAM-4 (projected to replace -SR16)	tbd	QSFP-DD