Professional Screen Test Suite
Comprehensive display testing tools
Solid Colors
Test uniformity with solid color screens. Detect backlight bleeding and brightness inconsistencies.
Dead Pixels
Detect stuck or dead pixels with solid color backgrounds.
Gradient Test
Check color banding and smooth transitions across grayscale gradients.
Color Accuracy
Test RGB channels and color reproduction quality.
Contrast Test
Evaluate contrast ratio with patterns and text at various sizes.
Viewing Angles
Test color shift and brightness at different viewing angles.
Response Time
Check motion blur and ghosting with moving patterns.
Backlight Bleeding
Specifically test for backlight bleeding in corners and edges.
Text Clarity
Test text sharpness and sub-pixel rendering at various sizes.
Brightness Levels
Test multiple brightness levels to check display range and uniformity.
Color Gradient
Test smooth color transitions across the full spectrum.
Geometry & Alignment
Check screen alignment, aspect ratio, and geometric accuracy.
Trailing & Ghosting
Detect motion artifacts, trailing, and ghosting effects.
Screen Uniformity
Test uniformity with gray patterns to spot clouding and uneven areas.
Focus & Sharpness
Test image sharpness and focus with fine patterns and lines.
Refresh Rate
Test display refresh rate with scrolling patterns.
sRGB Color Gamut
Test sRGB color space accuracy with standard reference colors.
Color Temperature
Test white balance and color temperature (warm to cool).
Grayscale Steps
Test grayscale linearity with 256 shades from black to white.
Bit Depth / Banding
Test color depth and detect banding with subtle gradients.
HDR Brightness
Test high dynamic range and peak brightness capability.
Color Saturation
Test color saturation levels from desaturated to oversaturated.
Skin Tone Accuracy
Test natural skin tone reproduction across different tones.
ANSI Contrast
Test ANSI contrast ratio with checkerboard pattern.
ISO 12233 Resolution
Test resolution and sharpness with ISO standard patterns.
Color Blindness Test
Ishihara-style test patterns to check color differentiation.
Gamma Calibration
Test gamma curve with calibration patterns (2.2 standard).
Understanding Your Screen Tests
🎨 Solid Colors Test
This test fills your entire screen with pure, solid colors one at a time. It's surprisingly effective at revealing issues you might not notice during normal use - think of it like giving your display a clean canvas to show its true colors.
What You're Looking For:
Watch for any brightness inconsistencies across the screen. Your display should show the same shade everywhere - no brighter or darker patches, especially around the edges or corners. It's like checking if paint covers a wall evenly.
Why It's Useful:
- Dead simple to understand - if the color looks uneven, something's off
- Great for catching backlight bleeding before it becomes a bigger problem
- Works on any screen type - LCD, OLED, you name it
- Takes maybe a minute but catches the most common issues right away
The Downsides:
- You really need a dark room to spot backlight bleeding - normal lighting masks it
- Some tiny variations are actually normal, so don't obsess over perfection
- Won't catch problems that only pop up with moving pictures or animations
���� Dead Pixel Test
This cycles through pure red, green, blue, white, and black screens to help you hunt down stuck or dead pixels. A dead pixel stays black no matter what, while a stuck pixel shows the wrong color - like a tiny lightbulb that won't change.
What You're Looking For:
Get up close to your screen and scan for tiny dots that don't match the background. On a red screen, dead pixels appear as black dots, while stuck pixels might glow green or blue instead. It's tedious but worth it.
Why It's Useful:
- Absolutely essential before you commit to buying a new monitor or laptop
- Different colored backgrounds reveal different types of pixel defects
- Sometimes the rapid color changes can actually unstick a stuck pixel (no guarantees though)
- Many manufacturers have return policies specifically for dead pixels
The Downsides:
- Takes patience and careful inspection - it's not a quick glance kind of test
- Honestly, one or two dead pixels usually won't bother you in everyday use
- Super frustrating to discover issues right after your return window closes
- Can't actually fix dead pixels - this just helps you find them
��� Gradient Test
This shows smooth color transitions from black to white and through various colors. If your screen struggles with subtle tone differences, you'll see visible "bands" or "steps" instead of that smooth, creamy gradient you want.
What You're Looking For:
The gradient should flow like silk - no visible lines or stripes running through it. If you see distinct bands, your display might have color depth issues or cheap processing. Think of it like a sunset - you want smooth transitions, not visible steps.
Why It's Useful:
- Catches issues that solid colors completely miss
- Super important if you're into photo editing, graphic design, or anything visual
- Helps you understand what quality level you're actually getting
- Different gradient directions can reveal quirks specific to how your panel works
The Downsides:
- Budget displays almost always show some banding - it's just how they're built
- Room lighting can make banding look way worse than it actually is
- Sometimes your graphics card settings cause banding, not the screen itself
- Unless you're doing professional color work, minor banding probably won't bug you
⚡ Response Time Test
Watch a white box zip across the screen at different speeds. Slow response times create a blurry "ghost" trail behind moving objects - kind of like those motion blur photos where a moving car looks stretched out.
What You're Looking For:
The moving box should have sharp, clean edges as it travels. If you see a faded shadow trailing behind it, your screen's pixels are taking too long to switch colors. Gamers especially hate this.
Why It's Useful:
- Absolutely critical for gaming, especially fast-paced shooters or racing games
- Even regular web browsing and scrolling feel smoother on fast displays
- Helps verify if your "gaming mode" setting actually does anything
- Can reveal overdrive artifacts where pixels change too aggressively
The Downsides:
- Most non-gamers honestly can't tell the difference
- Browser animation speeds can mess with the test results
- Doesn't give you precise millisecond measurements like professional tools
- Some ghosting is totally normal on regular office monitors
💡 Backlight Bleeding Test
Shows pure black at different brightness levels. On LCD screens, light often "leaks" from the edges or corners where the backlight isn't perfectly sealed - imagine light escaping through the cracks of a door.
What You're Looking For:
In a pitch-black room, watch for glowing patches or bright streaks around the edges. A little bleeding is normal on LCDs, but excessive bleeding totally ruins dark movie scenes and nighttime gaming.
Why It's Useful:
- Crucial if you watch a lot of movies or game in the dark
- Helps you decide if a monitor's defect is bad enough to return it
- Shows how bleeding changes at different brightness levels
- Good to check when new since bleeding can actually get worse over time
The Downsides:
- Only really visible in very dark rooms - non-issue with normal lighting
- Can make you super aware of something you'd never have noticed otherwise
- OLED screens don't have this problem at all (but cost way more)
- Almost every LCD monitor has at least a tiny bit of bleeding
📝 Text Clarity Test
Displays text at various sizes from big headlines down to tiny print. Tests how sharp and readable your screen makes letters look - basically, will your eyes get tired reading on this thing all day?
What You're Looking For:
Letters should have crisp, well-defined edges without looking fuzzy or having weird colored fringes around them. Small text should still be readable without squinting or leaning in.
Why It's Useful:
- Essential if you spend your whole day reading documents, emails, or code
- Higher resolution screens really show their worth here
- Helps you dial in ClearType or other font smoothing settings
- Shows whether your display scaling is set up right
The Downsides:
- Super subjective - depends a lot on your personal eyesight
- Operating system font rendering matters just as much as the display
- How far you sit from the screen changes everything
���️ Color Temperature Test
Shows different "temperatures" of white, from warm yellowish tones to cool bluish tones. The standard for professional work is 6500K (called D65), which looks like natural midday sunlight - not too warm, not too cool.
What You're Looking For:
6500K should look neutral and "white" - not warm like candlelight, not cool like a blue sky. Warmer temperatures are easier on your eyes at night, while cooler temps can feel crisper for daytime work. It's all about finding what feels right.
Why It's Useful:
- Explains why some screens feel "warmer" or "cooler" compared to others
- Helps you set up night mode or blue light filters properly
- Critical when you're trying to match colors across multiple displays
- Shows what your different preset modes are actually doing
The Downsides:
- Your eyes adapt crazy fast, so "wrong" starts looking "right" after a few minutes
- Room lighting and time of day totally change how you perceive it
- Personal preference varies wildly - there's no single "correct" temperature for everyone
👁️ Color Blindness Test
Ishihara-style plates with numbers hidden in colored dots. Tests your ability to tell apart certain color combinations, particularly red and green. Fun fact: this is actually testing your eyes, not your screen!
What You're Looking For:
If the numbers are hard to see or you can't see them at all, you might have color vision differences. It's way more common than people think - about 1 in 12 men have some form of it.
Why It's Useful:
- Quick way to check for color vision differences you might not know about
- Helps explain why certain color combinations confuse you
- Can guide you to use colorblind-friendly palettes in your own design work
- Interesting to compare results with friends and family
The Downsides:
- Not a medical diagnosis - see an eye doctor if you're actually concerned
- Your display's color accuracy affects the results
- Lighting conditions matter a ton for accurate results
- Can be stressful if you discover an issue you didn't know about
📊 Gamma Calibration Test
Tests if your display follows the standard gamma 2.2 curve, which controls how brightness transitions from dark to light. Proper gamma makes images look natural rather than washed out or overly dark - it's like the secret sauce for realistic images.
What You're Looking For:
The dithered checkerboard pattern and solid gray square should blend together and look identical from normal viewing distance. If they look different, your gamma curve is off and images won't look quite right.
Why It's Useful:
- Makes sure shadows and highlights render the way they're supposed to
- Critical for professional photo and video editing work
- Explains why the same image can look totally different on different screens
- Helps you nail down proper calibration settings
The Downsides:
- Pretty technical concept that's hard to wrap your head around
- You need to view it from the right distance for accurate results
- Most regular folks won't notice incorrect gamma in everyday use
- Actually fixing gamma problems usually requires hardware calibration tools
⚫⚪ Contrast Test
Shows text at different sizes on both light and dark backgrounds, plus checkerboard patterns. Tests how well your screen handles the difference between its darkest blacks and brightest whites - basically, can you read comfortably in any scenario?
What You're Looking For:
Text should be crisp and easy to read on both white and black backgrounds. Small text shouldn't strain your eyes, and patterns should look distinct without blurring together. It's all about comfortable visibility.
Why It's Useful:
- Shows whether dark mode or light mode works better on your display
- Essential for anyone who reads a lot on their screen
- Reveals if your brightness settings are dialed in properly
- Helps you understand why some websites are harder to read than others
The Downsides:
- Room lighting completely changes how contrast appears
- Your personal vision and preferences matter way more than "perfect" contrast
- High contrast can actually be fatiguing for some people
📐 Viewing Angles Test
Uses gradients and quadrants to show how your screen's image quality changes when you're not looking straight at it. Some displays (especially cheaper TN panels) shift colors or get darker when viewed from the side - like those old laptop screens where everything looked inverted if you tilted them.
What You're Looking For:
Move your head side to side and up and down while watching the gradients. Colors shouldn't shift dramatically, and brightness should stay relatively consistent. IPS and OLED screens excel here; TN panels... not so much.
Why It's Useful:
- Critical if multiple people watch the same screen together
- Matters for artists who might lean back to view their work
- Helps explain why your laptop screen looks weird unless you're dead center
- Good for comparing display technologies before buying
The Downsides:
- If you always sit directly in front of your monitor, this doesn't matter much
- Budget monitors will always have some color shift - that's just physics
- Modern IPS and VA panels have gotten way better at this
👻 Trailing & Ghosting Test
A box zooms across the screen on contrasting backgrounds. Ghosting is when you see faint copies of the moving object lagging behind it - like when you wave your hand in front of an old monitor and see multiple afterimages.
What You're Looking For:
The moving box should have clean edges without a shadow trail following it. Some slight blur is normal, but you shouldn't see distinct ghost copies of the box trailing behind.
Why It's Useful:
- Absolutely crucial for competitive gaming where every frame matters
- Helps you test different overdrive settings on your monitor
- Explains why fast action scenes in movies can look smeared
- Different from response time but closely related - tests real motion clarity
The Downsides:
- Some ghosting is completely normal on non-gaming displays
- Your eyes track motion differently than a camera, so it might look worse in the test
- Overdrive settings that eliminate ghosting can create inverse ghosting (overshoot)
🟦 Screen Uniformity Test
Shows various shades of gray across the entire screen to reveal uniformity issues. "Clouding" is when some areas look lighter or darker than others, creating a mottled appearance - imagine trying to paint a wall perfectly evenly, and you'll get the idea.
What You're Looking For:
The entire screen should look like one consistent shade with no brighter or darker patches, especially in the center. Corners might be slightly different, but the center should be uniform.
Why It's Useful:
- Reveals manufacturing quality issues before they bother you in real use
- Critical for photo editing where consistent brightness matters
- Mid-gray tones show clouding better than pure black or white
- Good reason to return a monitor if the clouding is really bad
The Downsides:
- Once you see it, you can't unsee it - ignorance is sometimes bliss
- Almost every LCD has some degree of non-uniformity
- You typically don't notice it with actual content on screen
- Uniformity can actually vary based on screen temperature after warm-up
🎯 Focus & Sharpness Test
Shows grids, crosshairs, and fine line patterns to test how sharply your display renders details. Think of it like checking if your screen needs glasses - can it show fine details crisply, or do thin lines look fuzzy and blurred?
What You're Looking For:
Lines should be sharp and well-defined, not blurry or doubled. Grid patterns should be perfectly clear, and you shouldn't see any colored fringing around the edges of lines (called chromatic aberration).
Why It's Useful:
- Helps you dial in the "sharpness" setting on your monitor's OSD
- Shows if your display cable is causing signal degradation
- Important for CAD work, graphic design, or reading small text
- Can reveal if your display scaling settings are making things blurry
The Downsides:
- Lower resolution displays will never look as sharp, and that's just math
- Too much artificial sharpening creates halos and looks worse
- Your graphics card's output settings matter just as much as the display
🔄 Refresh Rate Test
Shows scrolling stripe patterns at different speeds. Refresh rate is how many times per second your screen updates the image - 60Hz means 60 times per second, 144Hz means 144 times, and so on. Higher refresh rates make motion look smoother, like comparing a flipbook to a smooth animation.
What You're Looking For:
The scrolling pattern should move smoothly without judder or stuttering. On high refresh rate displays (120Hz+), motion should look incredibly fluid. On 60Hz displays, you'll see more individual frames.
Why It's Useful:
- Confirms your high refresh rate monitor is actually running at its full speed
- Shows the difference between 60Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz+ in real time
- Essential for competitive gaming where smoothness gives you an edge
- Even desktop scrolling and mouse movement feel better at higher refresh rates
The Downsides:
- Browser limitations might cap the effective test speed
- You need a powerful graphics card to actually drive high refresh rates in games
- The difference between 144Hz and 240Hz is way less noticeable than 60Hz to 144Hz
- Higher refresh rates drain laptop batteries much faster
💡 Brightness Levels Test
Cycles through 11 different brightness levels from pure black (0%) to pure white (100%). Tests whether your display can actually show true blacks and brilliant whites, plus all the subtle shades in between.
What You're Looking For:
Each brightness level should look distinctly different from the others. Pure black should be truly black (not glowing gray), and pure white should be bright without looking washed out. The middle grays should all be clearly distinguishable.
Why It's Useful:
- Shows your display's actual dynamic range capability
- Helps you understand if your screen is bright enough for your room
- OLED displays really shine here with perfect blacks
- Good for finding the sweet spot brightness level for your eyes
The Downsides:
- LCD displays will never show true black due to backlight technology
- Ambient lighting makes a huge difference in how brightness appears
- Some displays look great in dark rooms but terrible in bright offices
🌈 Color Gradient Test
Shows smooth color transitions through the entire spectrum plus individual color fades. Tests whether your screen can render smooth color transitions or if you see banding and posterization - that ugly effect where smooth gradients look like distinct color stripes.
What You're Looking For:
Gradients should flow smoothly like silk without visible bands or steps. The full spectrum should show rich, vibrant colors transitioning seamlessly. If you see distinct stripes instead of smooth fades, your display or graphics settings have issues.
Why It's Useful:
- Essential test for photographers and video editors
- Shows off the difference between 6-bit, 8-bit, and 10-bit color depth
- Radial and conic gradients reveal different kinds of issues than linear ones
- Good for testing whether your color management settings are working
The Downsides:
- Budget displays almost always show some banding - it's a hardware limitation
- Sometimes the graphics card causes banding, not the display
- Browser color management can interfere with accurate results
- In real-world content, minor banding rarely bothers most people
📏 Geometry & Alignment Test
Shows borders, crosshairs, corner squares, and circles to test if your screen is displaying images with correct geometry. Tests whether straight lines are actually straight, circles are actually round, and whether the image is properly centered and scaled.
What You're Looking For:
Lines should be perfectly straight, not curved or bowed. Circles should be circular, not oval. The image should be centered on screen, and corner squares should be the same size and equidistant from edges.
Why It's Useful:
- Helps you adjust your monitor's position and geometry settings
- Important for design work where proportions need to be accurate
- Shows if your monitor is displaying the correct aspect ratio
- Can reveal if your display scaling is distorting the image
The Downsides:
- Modern digital displays rarely have geometry issues unlike old CRT monitors
- Sometimes it's your desk or monitor arm causing tilt, not the display
- Overscan settings can throw off alignment on some displays
⬛ Grayscale Steps Test
Shows grayscale in different step counts - from 4 coarse steps up to all 256 possible shades. Tests your display's ability to reproduce subtle tonal differences, which is crucial for realistic image rendering. Think of it as testing how many shades of gray your screen can actually show.
What You're Looking For:
In the 256-level test, transitions should be nearly invisible - it should look like a continuous gradient. In the stepped versions, each step should be clearly distinct from its neighbors without blending together.
Why It's Useful:
- Tests the fundamental ability to show tonal gradations
- Critical for black and white photography and grayscale artwork
- Shows if your display has proper bit depth support
- Reveals gamma curve issues that affect how shadows and highlights render
The Downsides:
- Human eyes can only distinguish about 200 shades, so perfect 256-level reproduction is overkill
- Viewing angle and room lighting affect how many steps you can actually perceive
- This is more of a technical test - most people won't notice these subtle differences
🎨 Bit Depth / Banding Test
Shows extremely subtle gradients in dark tones, mid-tones, and bright tones to reveal color banding. Bit depth determines how many colors your display can show - 6-bit panels show about 262,000 colors, while 10-bit panels show over a billion. More bits = smoother gradients.
What You're Looking For:
On a good display with proper bit depth, these gradients should look smooth. On lower-end displays, you'll see distinct bands or stripes, especially in the near-black gradient. It's most visible in dark scenes.
Why It's Useful:
- Separates true 8-bit or 10-bit panels from 6-bit panels with dithering
- Explains why some displays show ugly banding in movie night scenes
- Critical for professional color work and HDR content
- This is one area where you really do get what you pay for
The Downsides:
- Budget displays will always show banding - there's no fix without buying a better panel
- Most content you watch isn't mastered carefully enough for this to matter
- Dithering tricks can make 6-bit panels look pretty decent in real use
- Very few people can even perceive the difference between 8-bit and 10-bit
☀️ HDR Brightness Test
Tests peak brightness and dynamic range with ultra-bright whites and radial gradients. HDR (High Dynamic Range) means your display can show brighter brights and darker darks simultaneously - like the difference between looking at a photo of the sun versus actually looking outside.
What You're Looking For:
True HDR displays should show blindingly bright whites that really pop, while maintaining deep blacks. The radial gradients should transition from brilliant center highlights to rich shadows without washing out or clipping.
Why It's Useful:
- Tests whether your "HDR" display actually delivers real HDR performance
- Shows peak brightness capability - essential for HDR content
- Good for comparing DisplayHDR 400, 600, and 1000 certifications
- Reveals the difference between proper HDR and fake marketing HDR
The Downsides:
- Most "HDR" displays are barely brighter than SDR displays - it's mostly marketing
- True HDR (1000+ nits) is eye-searingly bright and not comfortable for desktop work
- HDR needs proper content and calibration to actually look good
- Windows HDR support is still janky and inconsistent
🎨 Color Saturation Test
Shows each primary and secondary color at six different saturation levels, from desaturated (pastel) to oversaturated (nuclear). Saturation is color intensity - think of watercolors (low saturation) versus neon signs (high saturation).
What You're Looking For:
The 100% samples should look vibrant but natural, not cartoonish. Lower saturations should look subtle and refined, not muddy. Higher saturations should be intense without looking radioactive or clipped.
Why It's Useful:
- Tests whether your "vivid" or "saturated" display mode is too aggressive
- Shows if your display can render subtle, desaturated colors properly
- Important for design work where color accuracy matters
- Helps you understand why some displays look "punchy" and others look "flat"
The Downsides:
- Most people prefer slightly oversaturated displays - they look more exciting
- Accurate saturation can actually look boring compared to boosted saturation
- Different display modes often trade saturation for brightness
- What looks "right" is highly subjective and culturally influenced
👤 Skin Tone Accuracy Test
Shows a range of human skin tones across six Fitzpatrick skin types, from very fair to dark brown. Skin tones are notoriously hard to render accurately - humans are incredibly sensitive to when skin looks "wrong" in ways we don't notice with other colors.
What You're Looking For:
Skin tones should look natural and alive, not orange, pink, green, or gray. Each skin type should show natural variation without looking artificial. This is one test where you trust your gut - if it looks off, it probably is.
Why It's Useful:
- Critical for portrait photography and video editing
- Shows if your display leans too warm (orange) or too cool (pink/magenta)
- Tests color balance better than abstract color patches
- Humans notice bad skin tones instantly, even non-technical folks
The Downsides:
- Showing skin tones as flat color patches isn't how we actually perceive skin
- Lighting, texture, and context massively affect how skin tones look
- What looks "natural" varies by culture and personal experience
- Many displays deliberately boost reds and oranges to make skin look healthier
◼️◻️ ANSI Contrast Test
Shows checkerboard patterns that test "simultaneous contrast" - how well your display maintains blacks when there's bright content nearby. This reveals issues like blooming on LCD displays where bright areas make nearby dark areas glow.
What You're Looking For:
Black squares should stay truly black even next to white squares. On LCD displays, you'll often see the black squares look grayish because the backlight bleeds. OLED displays ace this test with perfect blacks everywhere.
Why It's Useful:
- More realistic than testing all-black screens in isolation
- Shows how contrast performs with mixed content like subtitles on dark movies
- Reveals the weakness of LCD backlights versus OLED's per-pixel lighting
- Good for comparing full-array local dimming versus edge-lit displays
The Downsides:
- LCD technology fundamentally can't pass this test perfectly - it's a physics problem
- Your eyes adapt and you probably won't notice this in normal content
- Only really matters if you watch a lot of letterboxed movies in the dark
📐 ISO 12233 Resolution Test
Industry-standard patterns with resolution targets, line pairs, and text at various sizes. Used professionally to measure display sharpness and resolution quality. It's like an eye chart, but for your screen instead of your eyeballs.
What You're Looking For:
You should be able to see individual lines in the line pair patterns down to very fine sizes. Text should be sharp at all sizes. The crosshairs and targets should have clean, defined edges without blurring or color fringing.
Why It's Useful:
- Professional standard test used in display reviews and calibration
- Objectively tests resolution capability and sharpness
- Shows sub-pixel rendering quality for text
- Good for comparing displays with the same resolution spec but different quality
The Downsides:
- Pretty technical and not particularly user-friendly
- Resolution is mostly determined by pixel count, which you already know
- Browser scaling can mess with the test results
- Unless you're doing professional calibration, simpler tests work just as well
🎨 sRGB Color Gamut Test
Tests the standard sRGB color space with reference colors at specific RGB values. sRGB is the universal color standard for the web and most content - think of it as the "common language" that all displays and content creators use to communicate about colors.
What You're Looking For:
The primary colors (pure red, green, blue) should look vibrant and rich but not oversaturated. Secondary colors (yellow, cyan, magenta) should be clearly distinct. The reference white and gray should look neutral, not tinted.
Why It's Useful:
- Tests whether your display covers the standard color space properly
- Important for design work that needs to match across devices
- Shows if your "wide gamut" display is oversaturating sRGB content
- Good baseline test for color accuracy before professional calibration
The Downsides:
- Most people prefer slightly oversaturated colors - accurate sRGB can look dull
- Wide gamut displays showing sRGB content need proper color management
- Browser color management is inconsistent across browsers and operating systems
- Many displays deliberately go beyond sRGB because it looks more exciting