Burn-in Test

Fill the screen with solid colors and patterns that reveal burn-in and image retention on OLED, plasma, and LCD screens.

Go to the test

Cycle through the patterns and look for any shape or tint that stays in the same place.

🔥 What retention and burn-in look like

Artifact Remains Visible Across Content

Persistent-Looking Shape

If the shape also shows in everyday content, note where and on which colors.

Artifact Changes Over Time

Changing Shape

A shape that fades over time is usually temporary image retention.

No Artifact Noted

No Retention

No retention-like shape was visible in the patterns reviewed.

How to recheck a persistent-looking shape

It fades or changes after ordinary content
Record the change and recheck later with the same brightness and display mode.
It remains in the same physical location
Compare several colors and repeat the check after the panel’s compensation cycle. A shape that stays unchanged for days points to burn-in.
It looks more like a line, tint, or broad patch
Use the uniformity test to separate a screen-wide variation from a content-shaped artifact.

Use only panel-care features documented by the manufacturer, and check whether your warranty covers burn-in.

What to do with the shape you observed

No retention-like shape noted in the patterns I checked.
Return to ordinary content. Keep this as a baseline and recheck only if the original shape appears again.
A similar shape stayed in the same location across colors.
Note the shape, location, colors, and time. Use ordinary content and recheck later under the same conditions; check the manufacturer panel-care instructions if it persists.
The shape changed or became less visible during my recheck.
Record the elapsed time and what content ran between checks. Repeat later without treating a temporary change as proof that the panel is repaired.
Retention was not assessed / I am not sure.
Compare one neutral gray and a second solid color briefly. A pattern appearing only within the test drawing is not evidence of a retained image.

Background

Burn-in and image retention: what is the difference?

Both burn-in and image retention leave a faint copy of something that was on screen, often a taskbar, a channel logo, or a game HUD. The difference is whether it goes away. Image retention fades after the screen shows other content for a while. Burn-in is permanent, because the panel itself has aged unevenly.

Why OLED panels burn in

Every OLED subpixel produces its own light, and the organic material that produces it slowly loses efficiency the more it is driven. If one area shows the same bright static element for hundreds or thousands of hours, those subpixels age faster than their neighbors. The worn area then becomes slightly dimmer, and you see the shape as a ghost on uniform backgrounds.

The blue emitters have historically aged fastest, so burn-in often shows up as a color tint, not only as a darker area. Current panel designs try to reduce this. LG’s WOLED panels add a white subpixel, and Samsung Display’s QD-OLED panels use blue emitters with quantum-dot color conversion. Both still need care with static content.

Image retention on LCDs

LCDs do not have burn-in in the OLED sense, because the backlight ages evenly. They can show temporary image retention, especially IPS panels after a high-contrast static image stays up for a long time. Charge builds up in the liquid crystal layer and holds the old pattern faintly. This usually clears after minutes to hours of changing content or after the display is turned off for a while.

How to check, and how to tell which one you have

  • Look at uniform full-screen colors. A 20–50% gray, solid red, green, and blue, and white each reveal different worn subpixels.
  • Lower the room light, but keep the screen at your usual brightness. Very high brightness can hide subtle differences.
  • If you see a shape, play varied full-screen content for an hour or two, or leave the display off on standby, then check again.
  • If the shape fades, it was image retention. If it stays the same after several days and after the panel’s compensation cycle, it is burn-in.

Reducing the risk

Modern OLED monitors and TVs run a short compensation routine when they go into standby. This is often called pixel refresh, panel care, or panel maintenance. Leaving the display powered at the wall lets it run. Most also offer pixel shift, which moves the image by a few pixels, and logo or static-area dimming, which lowers the brightness of elements that do not change.

On the computer side, you can auto-hide the taskbar or dock, use dark themes, enable a screen saver or short sleep timer, and avoid keeping a game HUD or a fixed window at maximum brightness for hours. Several OLED monitor makers now include burn-in in their warranty. The length and conditions vary, so check the terms for your model.

Common questions

Should I run the manual pixel refresh often?
No. The full manual refresh evens out wear by slightly using up the panel’s remaining brightness headroom. Manufacturers usually advise running it only when you actually see retention that the automatic short cycles did not clear.
Can burn-in be removed?
True burn-in cannot be reversed, because the affected subpixels have physically aged. Compensation routines can sometimes make it less visible by adjusting the drive levels of neighboring areas.
Does a new OLED with a faint shape out of the box have burn-in?
Often not. A factory test pattern or a display unit left on in a store can leave retention that clears after the first few compensation cycles. Note what you see, use the screen normally for a few days, and check again before you decide.