How to Choose the Appropriate Brightness for an LED Screen?
For most of us, brightness is a term that we are more or less aware of but cannot describe in numbers accurately, so we may not be able to tell clearly how much brightness we need for an LED wall. Don’t worry, you will find the answers below.
What is the brightness of an LED screen? Why it matters?
The brightness of an LED display is usually expressed by a numerical value in cd/㎡ or nit(s), which refers to the luminous intensity per square meter when the display is working normally. It’s easy to understand that the higher the value, the brighter the display.
Generally speaking, among a series of optical parameters such as brightness, contrast ratio, grayscale and color saturation, brightness plays an essential and decisive role, because only when the screen is under enough brightness can the other optical parameters be perceived. Suppose that an LED display is in super-low brightness, i.e. almost blackout, no sharp colors will be shown, it’s meaningless to talk about color saturation and grayscale at that moment. So do the other optical parameters.
How much brightness does an LED screen need?
The suitable brightness of an LED screen depends on the application scenarios to a great extent. In general, we recommend that:
| Application scenario | Applicable brightness |
| Indoor | <1,000nits |
| Semi-outdoor | 3,000-5,000nits |
| Outdoors | 5,000nits-10,000nits |
Of course, due to the different specific usage and installation locations in practical projects, the applied brightness of an LED screen may vary accordingly. For different usage, we take indoor applications as example, the suitable brightness is show as below.
| Indoor usage | Applicable brightness |
| Document presentation | 200-300nits |
| Video playback | 400-600nits |
| Advertising | 600-1,000nits |
In regards to different installation locations, we take outdoor LED walls for instance. If the LED wall is facing east and west, i.e. facing the sun, we need at least 7,000nits of brightness as the sunlight hits on the screen directly; if the LED wall is facing south and north, the minimum brightness can be lower down to 6,000nits.
So here comes a problem, what if an LED screen exceeds or falls short of the optimal brightness range? It will be similar to the situation when you are dimming your mobile phone to the darkest under midday sunlight. You cannot see clearly. Thus your eyes feel tired. On the contrary, adjusting your mobile screen to its full brightness in midnight will not only waste electricity but also harm your eyes.
Now you got it why digital out-of-home media (DOOH) expects LED displays of high-brightness. Brighter screen can be more enticing, but excessive brightness will cause discomfort and waste.
In conclusion, the appropriate brightness of an LED screen should be subject to the actual installation surroundings and application. If you want further guidelines for the appropriate LED screen, please feel free to contact our sales experts or contact LianTronics by service@liantronics.com.