Ghosting Test
Check for trailing blur, overshoot and inverse ghosting on moving objects. This is especially useful for gaming monitors with overdrive settings.
What the ghosting test tells you
Ghosting appears when pixels cannot change fast enough during motion. You may see a dark trail, a blurry smear or a bright halo behind fast-moving objects depending on response time and overdrive tuning.
Use this page to compare different refresh rates, overdrive modes and picture presets. The same panel can look clean in one mode and show heavy overshoot in another.
- A dark smear behind moving objects usually means response time is too slow.
- A bright halo or outline can mean overdrive is set too high.
- Retest at different refresh rates and overdrive levels for a fair comparison.
- On touch devices, tap once or twice to reveal the controls before changing steps.
How to read the result
Use the focused test first, then confirm what you see on at least one or two additional steps. A single quick glance can be misleading on glossy panels, OLED screens or displays with strong reflections.
- Clean the panel surface before you decide that a defect is real.
- Check from your normal viewing distance first, then move closer.
- Retest with another related tool if the issue could also be caused by uniformity, sync or motion settings.
- If you are within the return window, take notes or photos while the issue is still easy to reproduce.
Related tests you should also try
UFO Ghosting & Overdrive
Track fast moving objects and look for trailing blur or inverse ghosting halos.
Response Time / Input Lag Demo
See how quickly the display reacts to a click or key press.
Screen Tearing (V-Sync)
Watch for horizontal tears when a fast line moves across the screen.
Viewing Angle Washout
Look from the sides to spot brightness and color shifts.
Frequently asked questions
Ghosting is a visible trail or smear that follows moving objects because pixels do not transition fast enough from one color to another.
Inverse ghosting is a bright or discolored halo caused by overdrive being too aggressive. It is also called overshoot or corona in some monitor menus.
Yes. Higher refresh rates can change the way response-time artifacts look, so it is useful to test at 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz or whatever modes your monitor supports.
Yes. A browser-based ghosting test is a quick way to compare presets, although final perception also depends on real games, motion processing and the display panel itself.
Run the test, then interpret the result
Not every moving blur is panel ghosting. Compare a fixed motion pattern and judge dark trails and bright halos separately while keeping refresh rate, zoom and brightness unchanged.
What ghosting looks like
Ghosting is a visible trail or smear behind moving objects.
Not every type of blur is ghosting. Some blur comes from sample-and-hold behavior.
- Overshoot is a related issue caused by overly aggressive overdrive and often looks like bright halos.
How to test it
Test at the panel’s native refresh rate.
Compare low, medium, and high overdrive modes.
- Judge both clarity and visible artifacts instead of only chasing sharpness.
How to reduce it
A balanced overdrive setting is usually safer than the fastest mode.
Make sure the monitor is running at the correct refresh rate.
- If possible, increase frame rate and compare again.
Separate ghosting from overshoot
A dark trail behind a moving object can indicate a slow pixel transition. A bright or inverse-coloured halo is more consistent with an overdrive setting that is too aggressive. In-game motion blur, temporal anti-aliasing and frame generation can create similar trails, so compare the same monitor with a controlled browser pattern.
Use a repeatable comparison
- Select the native resolution and intended refresh rate in the operating system.
- Try low, medium and high overdrive one setting at a time.
- At each level, record both the dark trail and the bright halo.
- With VRR enabled, repeat the check at lower and higher frame rates.
The fastest-labelled mode is not automatically the clearest. Look for the setting that reduces the dark trail without adding obvious inverse ghosting. This browser test does not measure response time in milliseconds; it provides a consistent motion sample for visual comparison.
Read the shape of the trail
| Appearance | Likely contributor | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Dark tail behind the object | Slow dark transition or black smearing | Raise overdrive one step and repeat at the same speed. |
| Bright or inverse-coloured halo | Overdrive overshoot | Lower overdrive one step. |
| Trail in one game only | Motion blur, TAA, frame generation or game rendering | Disable one effect at a time and compare the browser pattern. |
| Similar blur across all moving content | Sample-and-hold behaviour, refresh rate or eye tracking | Verify the operating-system refresh rate and frame rate. |
With VRR, repeat your chosen setting near both the lower and upper parts of the frame-rate range. A mode that looks balanced at high FPS can add visible overshoot when frame rate falls. This page uses browser animation timing; it does not measure a transition in milliseconds.