What is Screen Burn-In?
Screen burn-in is a noticeable discoloration or ghosting of a previous image on a digital display. It’s caused by the regular use of certain pixels more than others, leaving them to display colors slightly differently. The end result is a noticeable and often permanent impression on the display. Time, screen brightness, and other factors can cause burn-in, but the circumstances are different for each display technology, as different screens and their pixels operate differently at the hardware level. For LCD panels, like those used in many TVs and computer monitors, burn-in can develop because pixels eventually become unable to return to their unlit state and retain a colored profile. As for OLED and AMOLED technology, which is now used in some modern smartphones and TVs, the light-emitting pixels in the displays can dim faster than others if used more regularly, leaving a darkened ghost of an image in their place.
Screen Burn-In vs. Image Retention
Colloquially “burn-in” is used as a catchall term for any kind of ghosted image on a screen. The most common form of such “burn-in” though, is technically known as image retention. While that might seem like a case of pedantic semantics, it’s an important distinction to make. Screen burn-in refers to permanent degradation of a display which is almost impossible to fix; image retention is typically fixable.
How to Fix Screen Burn-In
As described above, screen burn-in on a technical level is hard to fix. However, the much more common image retention is not. Here’s how to sort out your image retention problems on whatever device you have.
Fix Screen Burn-In on Your TV
Fix Burn-In on Your Computer Monitor
Although most PC monitors are made to be less susceptible to burn-in, it can still happen. If you run into it there are a few things you can try.
