OLED burn-in: causes, test and prevention

Burn-in is a faint, permanent shadow of something that stayed on screen for too long — a navigation bar, a keyboard, a channel logo.

Why it happens

OLED pixels are made of organic materials that slowly lose brightness the more they're used. When the same element sits in the same place for hundreds of hours, those pixels age faster than their neighbors, leaving a visible outline.

Burn-in vs. image retention

Image retention is temporary: a ghost that fades after a few minutes of varied content. Burn-in is permanent and stays no matter what you display. If a shadow disappears after a short while, it was retention.

How to test for it

Turn brightness up and open the burn-in test.
Check mid-gray first: it shows burn-in most clearly.
Cycle through red, green and blue — burn-in often shows as a tint in one color.
Look where static elements usually sit: status bar, navigation bar, keyboard area.

How to prevent it

Use automatic brightness instead of keeping it at maximum.
Use gesture navigation or auto-hiding bars when possible.
Set a short screen timeout and avoid leaving static apps open for hours.
On TVs and monitors, keep the built-in pixel refresh and pixel shift features on.

Can it be fixed?

Not reliably. Built-in compensation routines on TVs can reduce mild cases, but the flashing stuck-pixel fixer doesn't help with burn-in. Severe burn-in usually means replacing the panel — so check carefully before buying a used OLED device.