A display data transmission method and apparatus, and a display panel drive method and apparatus are provided. The display data transmission method is provided for transmitting display data to a display panel having a plurality of pixels. The display data transmission method comprises: calculating transmission data comprising an initial value and a plurality of sequential values, each value corresponding to a pixel of the plurality of pixels of the display panel; each of the sequential values being a difference value between a gray scale value of the corresponding pixel and a gray scale value of an adjacent previous pixel; and transmitting the transmission data to the display panel.