Color Banding Test — Check Gradient Smoothness
Inspect mathematical 32-bit floating point gradients across grayscale and RGB channels to evaluate panel tonal resolution and FRC dithering.
How to Inspect Gradient Smoothness
In Fullscreen mode, look closely at the horizontal gradient sweep:
- Seamless Transition: The brightness should change continuously without visible vertical lines or stripes.
- Visible Step Lines: Sharp vertical lines or staircase steps indicate posterization, limited bit depth, or incorrect GPU dynamic range settings (Limited RGB 16–235 vs Full RGB 0–255).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is color banding?
Color banding (posterization) appears as discrete, jagged steps or stripes in what should be a completely smooth, continuous color gradient. It occurs when a display or GPU color pipeline lacks sufficient bit depth (e.g. 6-bit vs true 8-bit or 10-bit) to represent subtle tone differences.
What is 8-bit vs 10-bit color?
An 8-bit panel provides 256 tonal steps per RGB channel (16.7 million colors), while a 10-bit panel provides 1024 steps per channel (1.07 billion colors), eliminating visible step boundaries in smooth sky or shadow gradients.
What is Frame Rate Control (FRC dithering)?
Many "8-bit" or "10-bit" monitors use 6-bit+FRC or 8-bit+FRC temporal dithering, rapidly flickering adjacent pixels between shades to simulate higher bit-depth gradients without physical native 10-bit hardware.
Related Gradient Tools
Alle 25 Tools anzeigen →Color Test
GamutVerify RGB/CMYK color reproduction, primary chromaticity, and wide color gamut (sRGB, DCI-P3, Rec.2020).
Contrast Test
StepsEvaluate black level depth, white saturation, shadow detail retention, and step gradients.
Gamma Test
γVerify display gamma curve (Gamma 1.8, 2.2, 2.4) using alternating subpixel luminance patterns.
HDR Test
NitsDetect HDR display support, wide color gamut headroom, and peak luminance metadata.
Monitor Test
ScoreMulti-stage screen assessment covering geometry, color gamut, gradients, text clarity, and contrast.