A portable graphics encoder connects with one or more protocol decoder devices based on a particular communication protocol. The portable graphics encoder is not specific to any particular operating system. The portable graphics encoder receives protocol decoder device commands such as input instructions that determine higher-level graphics commands that are sent to the one or more protocol decoder devices. The higher-level graphics commands are extracted from graphics sources such as application programs. The portable graphics encoder encodes the higher-level graphics commands according to a format defined by the communication protocol, and the encoded higher-level graphics commands are sent to the one or more protocol decoder devices.