How to connect Nintendo Switch to TV

With a Nintendo Switch®, you can take on dungeons in Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild® anywhere—but your best experience will be on a bigger screen. Luckily, Nintendo made connecting their portable console to your TV as easy as crafting elixirs—which is pretty easy.

Here at Asurion, we help you get the most out of your tech, whether you're having trouble with Joy-Con™ drift or dealing with a Switch that gets too hot. We'll walk you through how to connect a Nintendo Switch to a TV.

How to connect a Nintendo Switch to a TV (with dock)

The easiest way to connect a Switch to a TV—whether it's the original or OLED version—is with its dock. After you go through the short set up, you can switch quickly and easily between handheld mode and docked mode. Here's how to connect your Switch to a TV using its dock:

1. Start by turning off the Switch and opening the back cover of the dock.
2. Connect the USB-C plug from the power adapter into the terminal labeled “AC Adapter." Once in place, connect the power adapter to a wall outlet.
3. Connect one end of the HDMI cable into the terminal labeled “HDMI Out," and connect the other end to an HDMI port on your TV.
4. Close the back cover of the dock, taking care to gather the cables into the cutout—if you don't, the back cover will not close.
5. Press the Joy-Con™ release buttons on the Switch to remove both controllers. Then insert the Switch with its screen facing the same direction as the front plate of the dock.
6. Turn the Switch back on, and select the correct HDMI channel on your TV.

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How to connect a Nintendo Switch to a TV without the dock

If you left your dock at home, you can still connect to a TV. You'll need a USB-C to HDMI adapter on hand to use as an alternative. To connect your Switch to a TV without the dock, you'll:

1. Turn off the Switch, then set it up on a stand or lay it flat on a table near the TV.
2. Disconnect the USB-C and HDMI cables from the back of the dock, and reconnect them to the HDMI adapter using the corresponding ports.
3. Connect the adapter to the bottom edge of the Nintendo Switch, and select the correct HDMI channel on your TV.

How to connect a Nintendo Switch Lite to a TV

Unlike the original Nintendo Switch and Switch OLED, the Nintendo Switch Lite wasn't meant to be docked or connected to a TV. The Lite is meant to be a smaller, more portable gaming system, so to keep the device slim, the video output components needed to support TV connection weren't built into it.