Every pixel is sent the value zero, hex #000000. An OLED switches those pixels off, so in a dark room the screen vanishes. An LCD can only block its backlight, and some light always leaks through. Every check and use below starts on this field unless it names another.
The page's own dimmer, not your device's brightness.
Pure black, level 0Every pixel is sent the value zero, hex #000000. An OLED switches those pixels off, so in a dark room the screen vanishes. An LCD can only block its backlight, and some light always leaks through. Every check and use below starts on this field unless it names another.
Near black, level 4Hex #040404, about 0.12 percent of the light of full white. The pixels are lit, only just. If an OLED has faint bands or blotches, this is where they show, because pure black switches the pixels off and hides them. In a lit room it passes for black.
Near black, level 8Hex #080808, about 0.24 percent of full white. In a dark room, flip between this and pure black with keys 3 and 1 in full screen. No change at your normal brightness means the darkest shades are crushed into one. The near-black steps on the colour bars page show where.
Show all 26 fields and uses (23 more)
Black and four near-blacks, continued
Near black, level 16Hex #101010, about 0.52 percent of full white. Dark enough to keep a room dim, light enough that every pixel is plainly on. It is the better field for judging cloudy patches on an OLED, where pure black shows nothing at all.
Dark grey, level 32Hex #202020, about 1.44 percent of full white. A dark grey for a spare monitor you want dim but not invisible, so the pointer is easy to find, and for spotting smears on the glass without the glare of a white field.
What black shows on a screen 10
Light leaking in from the edgesDark room, pure black, brightness where you normally keep it. Pale streaks or wedges along an edge are backlight bleed: light leaking round the edge of an LCD panel. It stays in the same place when you move your head, and lower brightness makes it fainter.
A cone of light from one cornerA bright patch spreading from a corner, as if a torch were shining from behind the bezel, is called flashlighting. It is a form of backlight bleed, so it does not move with your head. Note which corner and how far in it reaches.
A haze that shifts as you move your headLean a hand's width left, right, up and down. A glow that slides or fades as your angle changes is panel glow, best known on IPS screens, and not bleed. Sitting further back, lowering brightness or adding a soft light behind the monitor all reduce it.
Grey clouds away from the edgesUneven blotches in the body of the screen are clouding, also called dirty screen effect or mura: patches of uneven brightness that show most in dark scenes. Judge them at your usual brightness and distance, because that is how you will watch a film.
Coloured or white points that stay litScan the black slowly, one hand's width at a time. A point of red, green, blue or white that stays lit is a pixel or sub-pixel stuck on, and an all-black field is where it glows most clearly. The dead pixel test names the sub-pixel.
An OLED that vanishes in the darkAn OLED pixel showing black is switched off and gives no light. In a dark room you should not be able to tell where the panel ends and the bezel begins. If the whole panel glows an even grey, it is an LCD, or some setting is lifting black.
A halo round a small bright dotSwitch on the bloom dot: a small white disc that follows your pointer across the black. On an LCD with local dimming, the backlight zone behind the dot lights up and shows as a grey halo. More zones make a tighter halo. An OLED has no backlight to bloom.
Lamps and windows reflected in the glassA black screen is a mirror. Sit where you normally sit and look for lamps, windows and bright walls in it. Those reflections lie over every picture and wash out dark scenes. Turn or tilt the screen, or move the lamp, until the black is clean.
Finger marks before you clean the screenWith the room lights on, black shows grease and finger marks that a bright picture hides. Wipe with a dry microfibre cloth in straight lines, look again from the side, and leave the black up until the last smear has gone.
A fair photo of glow for a return requestA camera on automatic meters a mostly dark scene as too dark and overexposes it, so a photo of black can show more glow than your eyes do. Turn exposure down until the photo matches what you see, keep the bezel in frame, and note the brightness setting.
As a dark screen 7
Music playing with the screen darkStart the music in another tab or app first, then open this page in its own window and go full screen. The sound carries on because its tab is still open. On an OLED phone black is the cheapest picture to show, since a dark pixel draws no power.
A spare monitor during a filmDrag this window to the monitor you are not using and press F. That screen goes black while the film runs on the other, with nothing unplugged and no display settings changed. Escape brings it back. On an LCD, lower that monitor's brightness too.
A projector between slidesKeep this page in a spare tab. Switch to it, press F, and the room sees a dark wall, not your desktop or a no-signal card. A projector cannot project black, only less light, so a faint rectangle may remain until the room lights go down.
A black mirror before a video callPure black at low brightness turns a glossy screen into a mirror for a quick look at hair or a collar. The darker the room behind you and the brighter the light on your face, the clearer the reflection. A matt screen gives only a blur.
A dark base for a small product photoLay a tablet flat, show pure black and stand a small object on a sheet of clear acrylic over the glass. The camera sees the object and its reflection on a field with no edges. Wipe the acrylic first: a lens finds every speck.
A blank source for a stream or a recordingNeed a plain black scene for a stream, or black frames to open a screen recording? Capture this window on a computer. Once the controls fade, the field is exact #000000 with no logo, pointer or text from this page. An iPad keeps a small close button in the corner.
Covering a monitor for a minutePress F and black covers everything on that monitor in one key press: a quiz answer, a surprise, a half-built slide. It is not a lock. Anyone can press Escape, so lock the computer itself before you leave anything private.
Getting the black properly black 4
When the pointer and the controls fadeAfter three seconds without input the controls and the mouse pointer fade, leaving nothing of this page but black. Move the mouse or tap and they return. If a pointer still sits on the field, nudge it into a corner or onto a second monitor.
When a phone will not go full screenSome phone browsers do not let any web page take over the whole screen. There the black fills the browser window, and turning the phone sideways hides most of the bars. Everything else on the page works the same way.
An LCD still glows on blackAn LCD is a light valve in front of a backlight that stays lit behind every picture, black included. So the panel still glows, and brightness matters far more than the picture. For a dark room, turn brightness right down yourself. No web page can reach that control.
When the screen dims or locks by itselfA black page is no promise that the screen stays on. The display can still dim and lock on the device's own timer, so do not count on this page to hold it. For a long session, set a longer sleep time in the device's display settings and plug in.
How this list was compiled: Fields, checks and uses written for this page. The share of light for each near-black field was computed from the sRGB transfer function (value divided by 12.92 at or below 0.04045, otherwise ((value + 0.055) / 1.055) to the power 2.4) at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB, with full white as 100. An inactive OLED element giving no light and drawing no power, and an LCD being unable to show true black, are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED. The LCD as a light valve, backlight bleed toward the edges, clouding (dirty screen effect, mura) showing most in dark scenes, stuck pixels glowing on an all-black screen, and blooming round dimming zones are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display; local dimming of LED backlights is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlight. Bleed at the edges and corners, flashlighting, and panel glow that changes with viewing angle, distance, brightness and light behind the screen are from https://www.displayninja.com/what-is-backlight-bleed/. A light meter overexposing a mostly dark scene is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_compensation. That a web page's request to keep the screen on can be refused, so the device's own sleep timer still applies, is from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Wake_Lock_API; browser support for it and for full screen was read from https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data (api.WakeLock.request and api.Element.requestFullscreen), whose notes for Safari on iOS say full screen is only available on iPad, not on iPhone, and that it shows an overlay button which cannot be disabled, with a downward swipe leaving full screen. That OLED burn-in comes from the light-emitting pixels losing brightness under uneven use, and that LCD-type displays are rarely affected, is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_burn-in. All checked 2026-09-19. Licence: own work
How it works
This black screen fills your display with pure black, #000000, in one press: a blank screen for a spare monitor, a dark screen while music plays, or a black screen test for light bleed and pixels stuck on.
Read the full guide
Full black screen, lights off
For the checks, switch the room lights off first: in a lit room black mostly shows reflections. In full screen the pointer and the controls fade after three seconds. For a completely black screen on an LCD, turn the brightness down yourself: no page can reach the backlight.
What a pure black screen gives away
An OLED switches black pixels off, so in a dark room an OLED black screen should vanish, bezel and all. On an LCD look for pale wedges along the edges (bleed), a haze that slides as you move your head (glow), and grey clouds in the middle. Near black, level 4 gives about 0.12 percent of white's light: enough to show blotches pure black hides on an OLED.
Judge bleed at your usual brightness from your seat: full brightness, nose to the glass, shows leaks no film will.
Keys 1 to 5 swap between the five blacks in full screen. On a phone, tap a Colour chip first.
Questions and answers
How do I get a black screen full screen?
Press Go full screen, or the F key; Esc leaves. On an iPhone no web page can go full screen, so the black fills the browser window instead.
Why is my dark screen still glowing?
It is almost certainly an LCD: a light valve in front of a backlight. The valve never shuts completely, so its black is a very dark grey. Brighter wedges at the edges are backlight bleed.
Is a blank screen the same as switching the screen off?
No. The device is still on, so music plays on and a tap brings the controls back. On an OLED the black pixels are off and draw nothing. On an LCD the backlight is still lit.
Will leaving an all black screen on cause OLED burn-in?
Pure black should not. Burn-in on an OLED comes from lit pixels losing brightness unevenly with use, and at #000000 the pixels are switched off. On an LCD, lasting burn-in is rare whatever the picture.
Can I use it as a black screen background?
Yes. In full screen the page draws black and nothing else, edge to edge. A dark base for a small product photo and A blank source for a stream or a recording, in the list under the tool, say how to set each up.