This document gives general guidance on the subject of voltage sourced converters (VSC) used for transmission of power by high voltage direct current (HVDC). It describes converters that are not only voltage sourced (containing a capacitive energy storage medium and where the polarity of DC voltage remains fixed) but also self-commutated, using semiconductor; devices which can both be turned on and turned off by control action. The scope includes 2-level and 3-level converters with pulse-width modulation (PWM), along with multi-level converters, modular multi-level converters and cascaded two-level converters, but excludes 2-level and 3-level converters operated without PWM, in square-wave output mode.