An active optical cable (AOC) for a helmet mounted display (HMD) or goggles includes a transceiver module having a rigid-flex or flex connector packaging to physically couple with an electrical data interface of the HMD or goggles. The transceiver module includes one or more media converters to receive electrical data of multiple formats from the HMD or googles and convert the received electrical data to a common format, and an optical engine communicatively coupled to the one or more media converters to output the converted electrical data as optical data. The AOC includes a cable assembly including at least fiber optic cables with one end of the cable assembly communicatively couple to the transceiver module to receive the optical data output from optical engine; and another transceiver module having a quick-release connector packaging and communicatively coupled to other end of the cable assembly to receive the optical data.