diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/drm-kms-helpers.rst b/Documentation/gpu/drm-kms-helpers.rst
index 80453dda33b8..94cfc26acecc 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpu/drm-kms-helpers.rst
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/drm-kms-helpers.rst
@@ -171,6 +171,12 @@ Bridge Operations
 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/gpu/drm/drm_bridge.c
    :doc: bridge operations
 
+Bridge Chain Format Selection
+-----------------------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/gpu/drm/drm_bridge.c
+   :doc: bridge chain format selection
+
 Bridge Connector Helper
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_bridge.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_bridge.c
index 9d6fcf986022..1daac8a7f4c9 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_bridge.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_bridge.c
@@ -198,6 +198,46 @@
  * driver.
  */
 
+/**
+ * DOC: bridge chain format selection
+ *
+ * A bridge chain, from display output processor to connector, may contain
+ * bridges capable of converting between bus formats on their inputs, and
+ * output formats on their outputs. For example, a bridge may be able to convert
+ * from RGB to YCbCr 4:4:4, and pass through YCbCr 4:2:0 as-is, but not convert
+ * from RGB to YCbCr 4:2:0. This means not all input formats map to all output
+ * formats.
+ *
+ * Further adding to this, a desired output color format, as specified with the
+ * "color format" DRM property, might not correspond 1:1 to what the display
+ * driver should set at its output. The bridge chain it feeds into may only be
+ * able to reach the desired output format, if a conversion from a different
+ * starting format is performed.
+ *
+ * To deal with this complexity, the recursive bridge chain bus format selection
+ * logic starts with the last bridge in the chain, usually the connector, and
+ * then recursively walks the chain of bridges backwards to the first bridge,
+ * trying to find a path.
+ *
+ * For a display driver to work in such a scenario, it should read the first
+ * bridge's bridge state to figure out which bus format the chain resolved to.
+ * If the first bridge's input format resolved to %MEDIA_BUS_FMT_FIXED, then its
+ * output format should be used.
+ *
+ * Special handling is done for HDMI as it relates to format selection. Instead
+ * of directly using the "color format" DRM property for bridge chains that end
+ * in HDMI bridges, the bridge chain format selection logic will trust the logic
+ * that set the HDMI output format. For the common HDMI state helper
+ * functionality, this means that %DRM_CONNECTOR_COLOR_FORMAT_AUTO will allow
+ * fallbacks to YCBCr 4:2:0 if the bandwidth requirements would otherwise be too
+ * high but the mode and connector allow it.
+ *
+ * For bridge chains that do not end in an HDMI bridge,
+ * %DRM_CONNECTOR_COLOR_FORMAT_AUTO will be satisfied with the first output
+ * format on the last bridge for which it can find a path back to the first
+ * bridge.
+ */
+
 /* Protect bridge_list and bridge_lingering_list */
 static DEFINE_MUTEX(bridge_lock);
 static LIST_HEAD(bridge_list);