Abstract: In order to reduce the current stress in the diode-clamped hybrid three-level active bridge converter and enhance its efficiency, a novel optimization strategy based on dual-phase-shift control is proposed to minimize current stress. Firstly, the operational principles of the dual-phase-shift control is analyzed, and the power transmission and current stress characteristics for the four operating modes are obtained. Secondly, by incorporating a penalty function to impose constraints, and employing an improved differential evolution particle swarm optimization algorithm to determine the optimal phase-shift combination that minimizes current stress, the proposed optimization approach effectively reduces current stress. Moreover, the proposed optimization method is compared with other existing techniques for current stress reduction found in the literature, demonstrating its superior performance in minimizing current stress and achieving higher efficiency at varying power transmission levels. Finally, the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed control method are verified by simulation and experiments.