OLED displays are found in a range of today’s technology products, from TVs, laptops and monitors to tablets, wearables and handheld gaming consoles. They began to gain traction in the early 2010s, with tech reviewers praising their inky blacks, vibrant colors, wide viewing angles, and ultra-thin design. But there was still one problem that couldn’t be ignored: the dreaded “burn-in.”
For the uninitiated, burn-in occurs when permanent damage occurs to one or more of the display’s many small organic LEDs (OLEDs). These OLEDs produce their own light, unlike traditional LCD screens, which instead use white LED backlighting. OLEDs can become damaged when a bright image remains on the same part of a screen for a long time, causing pixel wear that can eventually leave a permanent mark. It is important to note that this is different from the image retention effect that sometimes occurs on LCD screens. It shares a similar cause, but unlike burn-in, it is only a temporary problem that does not last forever.
OLED technology has improved over the years with better panel materials and built-in protections that reduce the risk of burn-in. But current owners – and even official support pages for products like OLED TVs – still point out that the problem persists. The good news is that manufacturers have developed various protective measures against this phenomenon, and you can even take some steps yourself to extend the life of your OLED display.
Built-in protections to protect your OLED screen
Whether the OLED display is on your laptop, TV, tablet, or other device, organic pixels degrade at different rates depending on how bright they are (and for how long) during a given viewing session. They are particularly susceptible to degradation when part of the screen is exposed to constant brightness for long periods of time, such as when a desktop taskbar remains on the screen for hours. This is why tasks in which the images on the screen are constantly changing, such as streaming videos or gaming, are generally much smoother for OLED displays.
While some people still worry about damage from burning their OLED screen, advancements in OLED technology have helped ensure that panels stay in good condition for longer. For example, one of the guarantees is pixel shift. It works by subtly moving the image by just a few pixels every few minutes so that the same pixels don’t stay brightly lit for a long time. Another clever feature deployed by some modern OLED displays is logo luminance adjustment, where bright static elements (such as a TV channel’s logo) are automatically dimmed to ease the demand on those particular pixels. A similar measure known as automatic brightness limiter limits overall brightness when large bright areas appear on the screen, thereby serving to alleviate stress on the pixels.
A modern OLED display for your TV or computer can also run what’s called a compensation cycle (also called screen optimization or panel refresh). It works in the background to identify any uneven pixel wear, with brightness balance adjusted on the screen if necessary. OLED manufacturers have also improved panel materials over time, creating OLED displays that are more reliable and more resistant to aging.
How to improve the longevity of your OLED screen
Built-in protections can help your modern display avoid burn-in, but you’ll face greater risks if you turn these features off. Pixels will not move and some parts of the screen will not automatically change brightness, causing pixels to wear out more quickly. But there are still a few things you can do yourself to extend the life of your OLED display. Reducing the brightness of the entire screen, for example, will immediately reduce the strain on all the pixels on your panel, ensuring better performance over time. Also, on a PC monitor or laptop, switch to dark mode when possible, as OLEDs completely turn off black pixels, giving them a much-needed rest.
Screensavers are also important for protecting OLED panels. For example, to remove a static image from the screen, most TVs and laptops automatically switch to a screen saver if the device is inactive for a short period of time. Although screensavers have their own preloaded slideshow images, you can often add your own. If you do this, select darker images rather than light images to avoid overloading the pixels.
It is accurate to say that burn-in remains a potential problem for OLED displays. But thanks to advances in hardware and software, this problem is less serious than it once was and is unlikely to be a problem for most displays under normal use. This positive outlook has given companies the confidence to stick with the technology and advance it, with a team of researchers recently revealing a very cool new OLED display that offers great flexibility – literally.
