OLED Burn-In Test
Use full screen in a dark room. Look for faint outlines of anything you display constantly — a status bar, a taskbar, a game HUD, a channel logo.
OLED burn-in is permanent uneven ageing of the panel's subpixels, where areas that displayed static bright content for long periods become dimmer than their surroundings. Temporary image retention looks similar but fades; burn-in does not.
How to use this test
- Darken the room and set your screen to a normal brightness — not maximum.
- Go full screen and start on the mid-grey slide, which reveals retention most clearly.
- Look for faint shapes: a status bar, a taskbar, a game HUD, a broadcaster's logo, a keyboard outline.
- Step through the colour slides. Green and blue often reveal ageing that grey does not.
What your results mean
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| A faint outline of something you display constantly | Image retention or burn-in. If it fades over minutes to hours of varied content, it was retention. If it persists, it is burn-in. |
| An evenly lit panel on every slide | No detectable burn-in. Grey slides are sensitive, so a clean result here is meaningful. |
| Patchy variation with no recognisable shape | More likely panel uniformity variation than burn-in. Burn-in reproduces the shape of what was displayed. |
| A coloured tint in one region | Uneven subpixel ageing — one colour channel has degraded faster in that area. This is burn-in, and it is permanent. |
Common problems and fixes
You see faint shapes that fade after a few minutes
That is temporary image retention rather than burn-in. Displaying varied content usually clears it, and most OLED devices run a compensation cycle when idle.
Burn-in is visible and permanent
It cannot be reversed — the affected subpixels have physically aged. Some devices offer a pixel-refresh routine that evens out brightness, which reduces visibility without removing the cause.
You want to avoid it in future
Vary your content, hide persistent interface elements where possible, use a screensaver or auto-hide for taskbars, and avoid leaving static bright images on screen for hours at maximum brightness.
You are unsure whether the panel is OLED at all
LCD panels do not suffer burn-in in this way, though they can show temporary retention. Check your device's specification before worrying about a shape you can see.
Why this matters
Burn-in is the one display fault that gets worse the longer you wait to detect it, and it is directly tied to how you use the screen. Catching early retention tells you to change a habit — hide a taskbar, vary the content, drop the brightness — while the damage is still reversible. Once it is burn-in, the only remaining question is whether it is covered.
Longer walkthrough: OLED Burn-In Test — full guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is OLED burn-in?
Burn-in is permanent uneven ageing of the panel's subpixels. Because each OLED subpixel generates its own light and dims with use, areas displaying static bright content for long periods age faster than their surroundings and stay visibly dimmer.
What is the difference between burn-in and image retention?
Image retention is temporary and fades once varied content is displayed. Burn-in is permanent physical ageing. The practical test is time: if the shape disappears after some normal use, it was retention.
Do LCD screens get burn-in?
Not in the same way. LCDs use a shared backlight and their pixels do not age individually with use, so the permanent ageing mechanism is absent. They can show temporary image retention, which clears.
Can burn-in be repaired?
No. The subpixels have physically aged and there is no way to un-age them. Some devices offer a pixel-refresh or compensation cycle that evens out brightness across the panel, which reduces how visible the damage is without removing it.
Which colour reveals burn-in best?
Mid grey is usually the most revealing, because it lights every subpixel at a moderate level where brightness differences are easiest to see. Solid colour slides help identify which channel has aged when the cause is uneven.
How long does it take to develop?
It depends on brightness, content and hours of use rather than on any fixed period. Static bright elements at high brightness for many hours a day are the main risk factor; varied content at moderate brightness rarely produces it.
Sources: MDN — Fullscreen API · MDN — requestAnimationFrame()
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