Gradient Test
Display smooth color gradients to detect banding. Pure grey, RGB, and CMY ramps reveal whether your display is 6-bit, 8-bit, or 10-bit.
Why use this color tool
Multi-color gradients
Grey, red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow ramps each test a different color channel and combination.
Bit depth detection
Visible bands in the ramp indicate bit depth limits. Compare 256-step vs 1024-step ramps to confirm.
Smoothness score
Visual reference for what a perfectly smooth gradient looks like, helping you judge banding severity.
Fullscreen mode
Each gradient fills the entire viewport so even subtle banding becomes visible at normal viewing distance.
What is color
A gradient is a smooth transition from one color to another — like a sunset sky fading from orange to dark blue. On a perfect display, the transition is continuous. On a real display, the gradient may show visible steps or bands, revealing the limits of the panel's bit depth.
Banding is caused by quantization. An 8-bit panel can render 256 distinct levels per channel; a 10-bit panel renders 1,024. When the panel tries to display a gradient that requires more levels than it can produce, adjacent pixels get the same value, creating visible bands. Wider gradients (e.g., dark-to-light across the whole screen) reveal this more clearly than narrow ones.
Banding is most visible in dark gradients and in skies, shadows, and skin tones. HDR content amplifies the issue because the extended brightness range makes 8-bit quantization more obvious. This is why HDR requires 10-bit — without it, dark HDR scenes show severe banding.
How to test
Step 1: Display the grey gradient
Click the grey ramp above. It sweeps from pure black on the left to pure white on the right.
Step 2: Look for bands
A smooth ramp has no visible steps. Any horizontal lines or color shifts indicate banding at that brightness level.
Step 3: Test each color
Switch to red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Some panels band on specific channels only.
Step 4: Try the 1024-step ramp
If available, switch to 10-bit mode. A true 10-bit panel shows a noticeably smoother ramp than 8-bit.
Step 5: Adjust bit depth settings
If you see banding, check your GPU control panel for 10-bit output and use DisplayPort or HDMI 2.0+.
Common causes of color issues
6-bit panel depth
Cheapest panels render only 64 levels per channel. FRC dithering helps but cannot fully hide banding in wide gradients.
8-bit panel depth
Most consumer monitors. Fine for SDR but shows banding in HDR content and dark gradient scenes.
GPU output range
Limited RGB (16-235) crushes gradient endpoints. Use Full RGB (0-255) for PC monitors and 10-bit output where supported.
Compression artifacts
Heavily JPEG-compressed gradients band even on 10-bit panels. Test with the in-browser generated ramps, not photos.
Frequently asked questions
Testing tips
- Test in a dim room — ambient light masks subtle banding in dark gradient regions.
- Use DisplayPort 1.4 or HDMI 2.0+ for 10-bit output at high resolutions.
- Enable 10-bit output in your GPU control panel for HDR work.
- Compare 256-step and 1024-step ramps to confirm true 10-bit panel depth.
Related tools
Gradient Banding: How to Tell if Your Monitor is 6-bit, 8-bit, or 10-bit
Smooth color gradients are the gold standard test for display bit depth. A 10-bit panel renders a sunset sky as a continuous fade; an 8-bit panel shows faint bands; a 6-bit panel shows obvious steps. The difference is invisible in photos of busy scenes but glaring in skies, shadows, and HDR content. Learning to read gradient banding tells you exactly what your panel can do.
Bit depth is the number of distinct brightness levels per channel. A 6-bit panel renders 64 levels (2^6), an 8-bit panel renders 256 levels (2^8), and a 10-bit panel renders 1,024 levels (2^10). With three RGB channels, that's 262,000 / 16.7 million / 1.07 billion total colors. More levels per channel means smoother gradients because each step is smaller and less perceptible.
Run our gradient test and start with the grey ramp. Look for horizontal bands — distinct steps where the grey value jumps visibly. A perfectly smooth ramp indicates 10-bit. Faint bands at 256-step that disappear at 1024-step indicate 8-bit (the panel can render 256 levels but cannot subdivide further). Obvious bands at 256-step indicate 6-bit or 6-bit+FRC, where FRC dithering tries but fails to fully simulate 8-bit.
6-bit + FRC panels use temporal dithering — rapidly flickering pixels between adjacent levels — to simulate intermediate shades. From a normal viewing distance, FRC is invisible, which is why 6-bit+FRC panels are often marketed as "16.7 million colors" (technically true via dithering, but the underlying panel is 6-bit). The 1024-step ramp exposes the truth: a 6-bit+FRC panel cannot render the 768 intermediate levels between 8-bit and 10-bit, so the ramp bands at the same points as the 256-step version.
Does bit depth matter for your use case? For SDR gaming and general use, 8-bit is plenty. For HDR content, 10-bit is essential — HDR's wider brightness range makes 8-bit quantization glaring. For photo and video editing, 10-bit is the professional standard; skies, shadows, and skin tones all show banding at 8-bit. Budget for a 10-bit panel if you do any of this work.
Verify your full pipeline. A 10-bit monitor with an 8-bit GPU output still produces 8-bit color. Use DisplayPort 1.4 or HDMI 2.0+, enable 10-bit output in your GPU control panel, and use color-managed applications like Photoshop or DaVinci Resolve. Pair the gradient test with our color depth test and color banding test to audit your complete pipeline.
Run the gradient test now
Free, no download, runs in any browser.
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