Screen backlight bleeding, or light leakage, is a common issue with LED and LCD laptop screens. It occurs when light from the backlight bleeds through the edges or corners of the screen, creating uneven brightness. While some backlight bleeding is normal, excessive bleeding can be distracting.
In this article, we have discussed screen bleeding, IPS glow, and a few ways to help you fix screen bleeding.
What is Screen bleeding?
An LCD screen is normally designed to keep extra backlight away when showing pictures or videos. But when light escapes from the edges, it’s called backlight bleeding, messing up the picture or video quality.
There are two kinds of backlight bleeding: flash lighting and clouding. Flash lighting happens in the corners, making the middle of the screen seem darker than usual. Clouding is when you see patches of light all over the screen, even when it should be completely black.
Backlight bleeding can happen on any LCD screen, but it’s most noticeable on vertical alignment (VA) displays. VA screens are great for showing deep colours and strong contrast, unlike in-plane switching (IPS) and twisted nematic (TN).
When there’s no electricity in a VA display, the liquid crystals stay upright, making the screen black. But when you turn it on, the liquid crystals tilt, letting light through. The amount of tilt decides how light or dark the picture looks.
There is another issue that looks similar to Screen bleeding called IPS Glow, dont mistake it with bleeding screen issue.
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IPS Glow
If you have an IPS panel display, you might notice an issue with your monitor that looks like backlight bleeding, but it could be something called IPS glow.
IPS stands for in-plane switching, a type of screen that uses special liquid crystals to make colours look great. If you have IPS glow, you’ll see a glow around the edges when the rest of the screen is black.
To reduce IPS glow, you can try a few things:
- Add some light to your room.
- Lower the brightness of your monitor.
- Change how you look at the screen, like adjusting your viewing angle and distance. These tricks can help lessen the IPS glow effect.
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How to test whether it is a bleeding screen or an IPS glow?
Below are the steps to check whether it’s a bleeding screen or an IPS glow.
- Make the room dark, especially at night.
- Adjust the monitor brightness to how you like it, but not too bright.
- Open an all-black picture or a black screen on your monitor.
How to fix the screen bleeding issue?
Below are some common fixes that can fix the screen bleeding issue.
- Apply Electrical Tape: Dismantle the display and apply electrical tape around the edges of the LCD. This can help block excess light leakage. Be careful not to apply too much pressure during reassembly.
- Adjust Brightness and Contrast: In some cases, adjusting the brightness and contrast settings in your laptop’s display settings can mitigate backlight bleeding.
- Rub the spot: Use a soft cloth to gently rub the spot on the screen where you see backlight bleeding; sometimes, this can help reduce the backlight clouding issue on the screen.
- Use local dimming: If your monitor has local dimming, use it.
- Loosen Screws: If the bleeding persists, slightly loosen the screws at the rear of the display. This can relieve pressure on the screen, potentially reducing the bleeding effect.
- Take professional help: If the issue persists or worsens, consult a professional technician or contact the laptop manufacturer for a warranty repair or replacement.