Color Banding Test

Press Go full screen and look along the grey ramp for stripes.

Pattern Pick one, then go full screen.

What to look for

F goes full screen. Escape leaves.

Full ramp, black to white

Full ramp, black to white

Preview · scaled to fit

All 256 grey levels in one sweep. On a screen 1,920 pixels wide each level is a stripe 7.5 pixels wide, too narrow to pick out. A smooth screen shows one even blend; broad bands mean levels are being merged somewhere.

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1 of 7

Click, tap or press the right arrow for the next one. The left arrow goes back.

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What to look for

What you see and what it means

Before you judge

Next step Check the screen runs pixel for pixelNow judge the panel on plain white

All 15 patterns and checks

Ramps and steps 7

  • Full ramp, black to white All 256 grey levels in one sweep. On a screen 1,920 pixels wide each level is a stripe 7.5 pixels wide, too narrow to pick out. A smooth screen shows one even blend; broad bands mean levels are being merged somewhere.
  • Shadow ramp, levels 0 to 32 Only 33 levels across the whole width, so each is a band about 58 pixels wide at 1,920 pixels. Here bands are expected. Count them from the left: equal widths and no two alike means the shadows are intact.
  • Mid-tone ramp, levels 112 to 144 The same 33 levels in the middle of the scale, where skin, skies and walls sit. Bands of uneven width here can come from processing: a picture mode, a colour filter or scaling. Turn each off and look again.
  • Highlight ramp, levels 223 to 255 The brightest 33 levels. If the right-hand bands melt into one white block, the top of the scale is clipped, often by a contrast setting turned up too far. Lower it until the last bands separate.
Show all 15 patterns and checks (11 more)

Ramps and steps, continued

  • Sixteen shadow steps, 0 to 15 Sixteen blocks one level apart, each labelled with its number. Several dark blocks that look identical are merged shadows, the kind of loss that makes a night scene in a film turn to flat patches.
  • Sixteen highlight steps, 240 to 255 Sixteen blocks one level apart at the top of the scale. Each should be a shade lighter than the one before. A run of identical blocks at the right end means the highlights are clipped.
  • Coarse steps, every 16th level 17 blocks from 0 to 255, sixteen levels apart. Each should be a clearly lighter grey than the one before it, with no block tinted pink, green or blue.

What you see and what it means 5

  • Bands on the full ramp Visible stripes wider than a finger on the full ramp are colour banding: neighbouring levels rounded to the same shade. Note whether they sit in the shadows, the mid-tones or the highlights, then open the matching narrow ramp.
  • Two neighbouring bands the same shade On a narrow ramp, two touching bands that look identical mean one level has been lost. In the shadows, try the black level or brightness control first, then turn off any dynamic contrast or eco mode.
  • A pink or green tint in the grey Greys should be neutral. A tint that changes from band to band points at a colour setting or a night-light filter warming the screen. Turn filters off, set the colour temperature to its standard option, and look again.
  • Fine speckle or grain in the ramp A faint grain close up is often dithering: the screen mixes two neighbouring levels to fake the one in between. It hides banding and is a normal way to show more shades than the panel can.
  • Edges that look darker or lighter than they are Each block can seem lighter along the edge that meets a darker block, and darker along the other. That is the Mach band effect in your eyes, not the screen. Cover one block with a finger and it looks even.

Before you judge 3

  • Show the ramps full screen Press Go full screen so nothing else on the page lights the room or sets your eye. On a laptop, set the display to its native resolution; scaling can blur two neighbouring levels into one.
  • Test at the settings you use Judge with the brightness, picture mode and room light you normally use. A setting that hides bands in a showroom mode may reveal them at home, and the other way round.
  • Compare against a second screen If a narrow ramp looks wrong, open this page on another screen or a phone at the same time. Bands that appear only on one screen belong to that screen or its settings, not to the page.

How this list was compiled: Written for this page. Every level, band count and band width was computed: a ramp from level a to level b holds b - a + 1 levels, and on a screen 1,920 pixels wide each takes 1,920 divided by that count (7.5 pixels for all 256 levels, about 58 pixels for 33). What colour banding is (neighbouring colour levels rounded to one, most visible in gradual gradients), that 8 bits per channel is usually considered enough for sRGB, that dithering is a remedy, and that the Mach bands effect exaggerates it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_banding, read 2026-09-24. The Mach band effect (a band looks lighter or darker at its edge with a neighbour): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_bands, read 2026-09-24. Dithering to show shades between two levels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dither, read 2026-09-24. The patterns are drawn by the page as ramps and steps. Licence: own work

How it works

This color banding test fills the screen with smooth grey gradients and fine steps, where banding shows as stripes. Start on the full ramp, then open a narrow one to see exactly which shades your screen merges.

Read the full guide

A blend on the full ramp, even bands on the narrow ones

The full ramp holds 256 levels, 7.5 pixels each on a screen 1,920 pixels wide, so it should look like one smooth blend. Each narrow ramp holds 33 levels, so there you should see 33 even bands. Fewer or uneven bands mean shades are being merged.

A monitor banding test, step by step

1. Press Go full screen on the full ramp. 2. Bands in the dark? Open Shadow ramp, levels 0 to 32, then Sixteen shadow steps, 0 to 15. 3. Bands in the light? Open the highlight ramp. 4. Turn off dynamic contrast, eco modes and night filters, then look again.

Questions and answers

What causes color banding?

Neighbouring shades rounded to the same value somewhere between the picture and your eyes: in the image, the graphics settings, the connection or the panel. Gradual gradients, such as a clear sky, show it most.

What is a monitor gradient test?

A screen gradient test shows a smooth ramp from dark to light, and the question is whether it stays smooth. Where a screen merges neighbouring shades, the ramp breaks into bands. The full ramp here runs through all 256 grey levels.

Is this a color gradient test?

Yes. Each ramp opens grey: red, green and blue rise together, so it should stay neutral from end to end. Under Show, Red only, Green only or Blue only turns the same ramp into a gradient of that one colour.

Is some banding normal?

A little, yes. With 8 bits per channel there are 256 levels of grey, and the eye can see the step between two large neighbouring areas. This page does not grade your screen; compare it with another one.

Why do the grey blocks look uneven at their edges?

That is the Mach band effect, an illusion of the eye: where two greys meet, the darker looks darker and the lighter looks lighter. Cover one block with a finger and it looks flat.

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