Screen Burn In Test: How to Check, Prevent and Fix It

Screen burn in is a faint, permanent ghost of an image that stays on your display, like a channel logo, a taskbar or a game HUD. A screen burn in test takes about two minutes: show a plain white or grey screen in fullscreen and look for shapes that should not be there. This guide shows how to run the test, how to tell burn-in from temporary image retention, and what you can do about it.

On this page

• What Is Screen Burn-In?
• How to Run a Screen Burn In Test
• Burn-In vs Image Retention
• Which Screens Get Burn-In?
• How to Fix or Reduce Burn-In
• How to Prevent Screen Burn-In
• Screen Burn In Test FAQs

What Is Screen Burn-In?

Screen burn-in happens when some pixels wear out faster than others. If the same bright image sits in one place for hundreds of hours, those pixels age unevenly. Later, when the screen shows a plain colour, you can still see a faint outline of the old image.

Common sources of burn-in include:

• TV channel logos and news tickers that never move.
• Taskbars, docks and status bars on monitors and phones.
• Game HUDs like health bars, maps and scoreboards.
• Navigation buttons on older Android phones.

How to Run a Screen Burn In Test

You only need a browser and a few solid colour screens.

1. Clean the screen. Dust and smudges can look like faint marks.
2. Set brightness to about 50 to 100 percent. Burn-in is easier to spot on a bright screen.
3. Open a white screen in fullscreen. Use the FullScreenLab white screen and press F11 or tap fullscreen.
4. Look for ghost shapes. Check where logos, taskbars or keyboard bars usually sit.
5. Repeat with a mid grey screen. Grey around 50 percent shows burn-in most clearly.
6. Cycle through colours. Try the red, green and blue screens. Burn-in often shows as a tint in one colour.
7. Test again after a few hours. If the ghost has faded, it was image retention, not burn-in.

Burn-In vs Image Retention

Both look like a ghost image, but only one is permanent. Knowing which one you have saves a lot of worry.

The quick check: play varied video for an hour, then run the test again. Retention fades. Burn-in stays in the same spot.

Which Screens Get Burn-In?

• OLED and AMOLED: the most at risk, because each pixel makes its own light and wears on its own. This includes many phones, OLED TVs and newer OLED monitors. Run a full OLED screen test to check uniformity as well.
• Plasma: older plasma TVs were well known for burn-in.
• LCD and LED: rarely get permanent burn-in, but can show temporary image retention. Light leaking at the edges is a different problem, covered in our backlight bleed test.

How to Fix or Reduce Burn In

True burn-in is physical wear, so it cannot be fully undone. These steps can make it less visible.

• Run the built-in pixel refresh. Many OLED TVs and monitors have a panel refresh or pixel cleaning option in the settings. It evens out pixel wear and works best on fresh image retention.
• Play full screen colour cycles. Cycling solid colours for 10 to 20 minutes can help clear image retention.
• Lower the brightness. Lower brightness makes faint ghosts harder to see and slows further wear.
• Check the warranty. Some brands now cover burn-in on OLED monitors and TVs for a set period. Take photos of the test screens before you contact the service centre.
• Replace the panel if the burn-in is severe and distracting.

How to Prevent Screen Burn-In

• Auto-hide the taskbar or dock on OLED monitors.
• Use dark mode and a moving wallpaper or screensaver. A bouncing logo screensaver keeps pixels moving when you step away.
• Set a short screen timeout so static images are not left on for hours.
• Avoid maximum brightness for long sessions.
• Switch channels or apps now and then if one logo or HUD stays on screen all day.

Screen Burn In Test FAQs