ddcutil communicates with monitors implementing MCCS (Monitor Control Command Set), using either the DDC/CI protocol on the I2C bus or as a Human Interface Device on USB.

A particular use case for ddcutil is as part of color profile management. Monitor calibration is relative to the monitor color settings currently in effect, e.g. red gain. ddcutil allows color related settings to be saved at the time a monitor is calibrated, and then restored when the calibration is applied.