Black level

The luminance of a full-black frame on a defined screen.

Unit: cd/m²
Standard: Measured; meaningful only with screen size + gain
ISO 21118: Extension
Better: ↓ Lower

Simulated at 5,000:1 (illustrative scene). Black floor shown: rgb(1,1,1). Your display limits what you see.

Native contrast5,000:1

Reference: pure #000, what a perfectly dark pixel would be on an OLED or in a dark room.

Show the numbers

1,000:1	black = 0.100 % of white (rgb(3,3,3))
5,000:1	black = 0.020 % of white (rgb(1,1,1))
20,000:1	black = 0.0050 % of white (rgb(0,0,0))
100,000:1	black = 0.0010 % of white (rgb(0,0,0))
Model	displayed = black floor + signal × (1 − floor), sRGB-encoded

Simulation: white is held constant and the black floor is set to white ÷ contrast; stars sit at 0.05 % to 50 % of white in linear light. Tiny differences (such as 20,000:1 versus 100,000:1) fall below one 8-bit step on most screens, so a real projector in a dark room shows more than this can. Ambient light also raises the floor.

A simulated night scene with stars and a moon, rendered with a black floor equal to white divided by 5,000, that is 0.020 percent of peak white. Faint stars below that floor are lost, so higher contrast reveals more of them. It is a simulation, and your display limits what you see. Presets compare 1,000, 5,000, 20,000 and 100,000 to 1.

How to compare it

Black level (absolute)(cd/m²)

Use `observed.black_level_nits` with screen size and gain recorded. It isn't comparable without them.

Measured black level(cd/m²)

Black luminance with screen size and gain recorded.

Normalise to a reference (e.g. 100″ at gain 1.0) when we have enough data.

Standard: Reviewer

Deep cut

Black level (absolute). Black level matters more than peak in a dark room. The eye adapts to the scene, and at ~0.01 nits versus ~0.1 nits, a starfield looks completely different.

Terms on this page

Black floor / black level

The luminance of a full-black frame in nits. Lower is better for dark rooms. Review-measured. ⚖ observed.black_level_nits ↓