Black Level Test
Test your monitor's ability to distinguish deep dark shades from pure black. Pure black is RGB 0. If you cannot see the lowest numbers, your monitor may suffer from "black crush".
Test Range
How to use: Ensure your room is dark and your monitor is at its standard brightness. Enter fullscreen. Look closely at the darkest squares (1, 2, 3). If they blend completely into the pure black background, your screen has black crush. Adjust your monitor's "Black Equalizer", "Shadow Control", or Gamma settings to reveal them.
What is the Black Level Test?
The black level test helps you determine how well your monitor can distinguish between pure black and very dark shades of gray. A perfect monitor should be able to display pure black (RGB 0,0,0) as completely dark, while still allowing you to differentiate slightly brighter shades like RGB 1,1,1 or 2,2,2. If your monitor blends these dark shades together into a single block of black, you are experiencing 'black crush'.
Why is Black Level Important?
In gaming and movie watching, a significant amount of detail exists in the shadows. If your monitor crushes blacks, you will lose this detail. Enemies in dark corners of games will become invisible, and dark movie scenes will look like flat black shapes rather than textured environments. Conversely, if your black levels are set too high, pure black will look washed out and gray, destroying the contrast and depth of the image.
How to Calibrate Your Black Level
Make sure your room is dark and your monitor is at its standard brightness. Look at the darkest squares in the test. If you can't distinguish square '1' or '2' from the pure black background, try adjusting your monitor's settings. Look for options named 'Black Equalizer', 'Shadow Control', 'Dark Boost', or simply adjust your Gamma curve or Brightness/Contrast settings until the lowest numbers become barely visible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about this tool