Black Screen
A completely black page. Press Fullscreen and the display goes dark while the computer keeps running. Esc brings it back.
What a black screen is useful for
- Going dark without sleeping. Keep music, a download or a call running with no light from the screen, for example on a second monitor while you watch a film on the first.
- Cleaning the display. Dust, fingerprints and streaks are far easier to see on black. Wipe gently with a dry microfibre cloth.
- Finding stuck pixels. A stuck pixel glows red, green, blue or white on a black background. See the dead pixel test guide.
- Checking backlight bleed. In a dark room, light leaking from the edges of an LCD panel is visible on black.
- Saving power on OLED. OLED pixels showing pure black are switched off, so a black screen uses very little energy on those displays.
- A pretend power-off. In full screen the monitor looks switched off, a mild prank on its own.
LCD and OLED look different
On an LCD the backlight stays on behind black pixels, so the screen is dark grey rather than truly black and still uses power. On OLED and AMOLED, black pixels emit no light at all.
Black screen FAQ
Does a black screen save battery?
On OLED and AMOLED displays, yes, because black pixels are off. On LCD screens the saving is negligible because the backlight stays on.
How do I exit the black screen?
Press Esc. If that does not work, press F11, or move the mouse to the top of the screen and close the tab.
Will the computer still go to sleep?
Yes. The page does not change your power settings, so the normal sleep timer still applies.
More tools
- White ScreenPure white for light, tracing and pixel checks.
- Red ScreenPure red for pixel tests and night light.
- Green ScreenPure green for chroma key and pixel tests.
- Blue ScreenPure blue for pixel tests and chroma key.
- Hacker TyperThe classic: mash any key, get lines of kernel code.
- Hacker SimulatorA full fake hacking dashboard with one click.
- Fake Update ScreenWindows, Mac and more: an update that never finishes.
- Matrix RainFalling green code with colour, speed and size controls.