Can Your Monitor Display Smooth Gradients?
Display smooth gradients in different color channels to check for banding. Visible steps indicate limited bit depth (6-bit or 8-bit panels). Smooth transitions suggest 10-bit or higher — all rendered locally via Canvas.
This test renders linear gradients across black-to-white and individual RGB channels to reveal color banding caused by limited panel bit depth.
A 6-bit panel displays 262,144 colors with 64 levels per channel, while a true 10-bit panel displays 1.07 billion colors with 1,024 levels per channel.
Look for visible steps (banding) in the gradient. Smooth transitions indicate good bit depth. Banding suggests 6-bit or 8-bit panel limitations.
What Do Your Results Mean?
| Result | Range | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Good | No visible steps in any gradient channel | Your panel likely supports 10-bit color depth (or 8-bit with effective dithering), producing smooth transitions across all tonal ranges. |
| Warning | Subtle banding visible only in dark gradient regions | Your panel is likely 8-bit — 16.7 million colors with minor banding in shadow areas. Adequate for most use cases including photo editing. |
| Bad | Clearly visible steps or bands across the entire gradient | Your panel is likely 6-bit (or 6-bit+FRC), producing only 262,144 native colors. Banding will be noticeable in gradients, skies, and dark scenes. |
Common Issues and How to Fix Them
Banding visible on a monitor rated for 10-bit color
Enable 10-bit color output in your GPU driver settings (NVIDIA Control Panel > Change Resolution > Output color depth: 10 bpc). Verify your cable supports 10-bit — use DisplayPort 1.2+ or HDMI 2.0+.
Gradients look different at various viewing angles
This is normal for VA and TN panel types, which have limited viewing angles. IPS and OLED panels maintain more consistent color across angles. View the test straight-on at eye level for the most accurate assessment.