We conjecture the equality of the numerical and Kodaira dimensions ν * 1 (X) and κ * 1 (X) for the cotangent bundle of a compact Kähler manifold X, similar to the classical case of the canonical bundle. We show it or reduce it to the classical case of the canonical bundle in some peculiar manifolds: among them, the rationally connected ones, or resolutions of varieties with klt singularities and trivial first Chern class, in which case we show that, where q ′ (X) is the maximal irregularity of a finite étale cover of X. The proof rests on the Beauville-Bogomolov decomposition, and a direct computation for smooth models of quotients A/G of complex tori by finite groups. We conjecture that these equalities hold true, much more generally, when X is 'special'. The invariant κ * 1 was already introduced and studied by Fumio Sakai in [43], the particular case of the preceding conjecture when κ * 1 (X) = −dim(X) was introduced and studied in [29].