Screen Uniformity Test
Fill the screen with white, 50% gray, black, red, green and blue to spot clouding, mura and tint shifts.
Screen Burn-In Test
Check a phone, TV or monitor for burn-in: flat gray, white, black and color fields fill the screen so faint ghosts of taskbars, logos or game HUDs stand out. A ghost that fades later is image retention; one that stays is likely burn-in.
Showing Gray 50%
Retention is most visible on mid-gray. Look for ghost outlines of taskbars, docks, logos or keyboards.
Keys: ← → color · F full screen · A auto cycle · Esc exit
Runs entirely in your browser. Test results, audio and video never leave your device.
How to check for burn-in
- Press Start test, or click the preview. The test opens on Gray 50%, where ghosts often show most clearly.
- Look for faint outlines of things that usually stay on screen, such as a taskbar, a status bar or a channel logo.
- Press Next, the Right arrow key or tap the screen to step through Gray 75%, White, Black, Red, Green and Blue.
- To change fields hands-free, press Auto cycle. It moves to the next field every 5 seconds until you press it again.
- If you see a ghost, use the screen normally or switch it off for a while, then run the test again.
- Press Esc or Exit to finish.
What is screen burn-in?
Screen burn-in is permanent, uneven wear of a display's pixels that leaves a faint ghost of something shown in the same place for a long time, such as a taskbar, a channel logo or a game HUD. It mainly affects OLED screens, whose pixels dim as they age, so areas that show the same bright content day after day age faster than the rest.
Image retention or burn-in?
Both leave the same kind of ghost, and a single check cannot tell them apart. Checking again later can.
| Compared | Image retention | Burn-in |
|---|---|---|
| How long it lasts | Temporary: fades with varied content or time off | Permanent |
| Screens | LCD and OLED | Mainly OLED |
| Cause | A static image held for a while | Long use with the same static content |
| On a later check | The ghost is fainter or gone | The ghost looks the same |
Can burn-in be fixed?
No software can repair permanent burn-in. It is physical wear: the affected pixels have aged and give less light than their neighbors, and no app, video or web page can restore them. Color-cycling "burn-in fixers" at most give temporary retention the varied content it would fade with anyway, and hours of bright patterns age the rest of the panel.
Image retention fades by itself with varied content or time off. Many OLED TVs and monitors also run a pixel refresh or panel care routine, usually in standby. It can make mild wear less visible, but run it by hand only as the manufacturer advises.
Where burn-in shows on phones, TVs and monitors
Open this page in the device's own browser; on a TV, use its built-in web browser. Ghosts form where something stayed still the longest.
| Screen | Where ghosts usually appear |
|---|---|
| Phone | Status bar, navigation bar or gesture line, the on-screen keyboard, app icons in the dock |
| TV | Channel logos, news tickers, game HUDs such as health bars and maps, the edges of letterbox bars |
| Monitor or laptop | Taskbar or dock, menu bar, browser tabs and address bar, desktop icons, game HUDs |
What this test can detect
- Image retention: a faint ghost of recent content that fades between checks.
- Possible burn-in: a ghost of a taskbar, logo, status bar or HUD that looks the same every time you check.
- Uneven OLED wear, such as a darker band where a taskbar or navigation bar sits, often clearest on Gray 50% or Gray 75%.
- Color-specific wear: a ghost that shows on Red, Green or Blue but not on the other fields.
How it works
The page fills the test area with one flat CSS color at a time: Gray 50% (#808080), Gray 75% (#bfbfbf), White, Black, Red, Green and Blue, each with a line on what to look for. Start test fills the screen with the Fullscreen API, or with a fixed overlay where the browser has none.
Auto cycle is off until you press it; then the field changes every 5 seconds. After 2.5 seconds without input the controls and cursor hide, so nothing static sits on the field. Nothing is measured or recorded.
Limitations
- The page cannot see your screen. It does not detect ghosts, compare one check with the next or remember results; your eyes do the checking.
- Not every patch is burn-in. Irregular blotches without the shape of a taskbar or logo are more likely mura or clouding, which the Screen Uniformity Test checks, and light along the edges of an LCD is backlight bleed.
- Where the browser has no fullscreen mode, such as Safari on iPhone, its bars stay on screen, so the parts of the screen under them are not tested.
- Close the test when you finish. Any static image left on an OLED screen for hours adds wear, and that includes browser bars that stay on screen.
Frequently asked questions
Can LCD screens get burn-in?
Rarely. LCDs can show temporary image retention after hours of a static image, but their pixels do not wear the way OLED pixels do, so permanent burn-in is uncommon. Plasma and older CRT screens were also prone to it.
Which color shows burn-in most clearly?
Mid-gray usually does, which is why the test starts on Gray 50%. Check the primaries too: OLED subpixels wear at different rates, so a ghost can show on one color and not the others.
How long should I wait before checking again?
There is no fixed rule. Check again after a few hours of varied content or a night with the screen off. A ghost that fades is image retention; one that looks the same after several days of normal use is likely burn-in.
Is burn-in covered by warranty?
It depends on the manufacturer, the product and where you bought it. Some OLED monitors and TVs state burn-in coverage in their warranty and others exclude it, so read the terms for your model before you file a claim.