diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_hdmi.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_hdmi.c
index 79093d8fc2e6..874076a29da4 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_hdmi.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_hdmi.c
@@ -2314,7 +2314,7 @@ static int intel_hdmi_compute_formats(struct intel_encoder *encoder,
 						       respect_downstream_limits,
 						       INTEL_OUTPUT_FORMAT_YCBCR420);
 
-		if (ret) {
+		if (ret && !respect_downstream_limits) {
 			drm_dbg_kms(display->drm,
 				    "YCbCr 4:2:0 mode but YCbCr 4:2:0 output not possible. Falling back to RGB.\n");