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Monitor White Balance Test

Press Full Screen and study the neutral greys. If they carry a pink, green, or blue tint, your white point is off — this test shows you the cast and which RGB gain control to nudge to make greys truly neutral.

New to this? Here’s the plain-English version.

What this test is

Grey and white patterns that show whether neutral greys look truly neutral — or carry a hidden pink, green, or blue tint.

How it helps you

A colour cast in the greys quietly throws off every colour on screen; fixing it makes photos, video, and design look right.

What we’re checking

Whether your greys are neutral from shadows to highlights, or tinted — and which RGB channel to adjust to fix it.

Is this screen pure white?

Look for any dominant color tint, such as blue (cool), yellow (warm), pink, or green.

Look at the white screen. Does it appear truly neutral, or does it have a noticeable color cast? A common issue is a blueish (cool) or yellowish (warm) tint.

Press F11 or Full Screen · ← → patterns · Esc to exit

What White Balance Is

White balance is the colour temperature of your monitor’s white point — what “white” actually looks like. Set correctly, it produces neutral greys with no colour cast. Set wrong, greys look warm (yellow/orange) or cool (blue), and that tint bleeds into every colour on screen. The sRGB reference is D65 (~6500K); running much above it looks blue, much below it looks yellow.

How to Use the Test

Mid-grey patches (50% brightness) reveal white-balance problems most clearly — more than pure white, where a cast is easy to miss.

  1. 1Go fullscreen. Press Full Screen and bring up the grey ramp or white field.
  2. 2Examine mid-grey. 50% grey reveals white-balance issues most clearly. Under correct balance it looks neutral; a cast here affects every grey tone.
  3. 3Check both ends of the ramp. White balance can shift across the range — shadows warm, highlights cool. Inspect near-black and near-white separately.
  4. 4Compare to paper. A white sheet in daylight (~D65) is a rough reference. If the screen is much bluer or yellower than the paper, adjust.

White Point Reference

TemperatureAppearanceTypical use
5000–5500KWarm, slightly yellowPrint matching, warm environments
6500K (D65)Neutral whitesRGB standard — default for most content
7500KSlightly cool, bluishCommon monitor default
9300KDistinctly blue-whiteOutdated; avoid for accurate work

Correcting It in the OSD

Colour temperature preset

The quick fix. “Warm” usually targets ~6500K; “Cool”/“Standard” often defaults to 7500–9300K. Start here, then fine-tune.

RGB gain sliders

The precise fix. Lower blue / raise red to warm; the reverse to cool. Adjust in small steps to keep greys neutral, and avoid extreme values that compress a channel.

If you would rather set the warm/cool feel by eye — including for evening comfort — start with the colour temperature test, or run the full calibration walkthrough to balance white alongside brightness, contrast, and gamma.

White Balance FAQ

What white balance setting should I use?+
For most content, the “Warm” preset or a manual 6500K (D65) target is correct — it matches the sRGB and Rec.709 white point used by web, video, and most games. Only move away from it deliberately, for evening comfort or to match a specific print environment.
Why does my monitor look blue?+
Many monitors ship with the default colour temperature at 7500K or higher, which reads noticeably cool/blue against a D65 reference. Switch the OSD colour-temperature preset to “Warm” to pull it toward 6500K, then fine-tune with RGB gain if needed.
Does white balance affect gaming?+
Yes. A blue-shifted white point makes night scenes and dark environments look cooler than intended, and skews skin tones and warm light effects like fire. For visuals as the developers intended, 6500K is the target.
Can I fix white balance without an OSD?+
Partially. The OS colour profile (ICC) carries a white-point tag that corrects colour-managed apps — most browsers and photo editors. But video players and games are often not colour-managed, so the OSD RGB-gain adjustment remains the most reliable, universal fix.
How is white balance different from colour temperature?+
They are two names for the same thing. Colour temperature is the measurement in Kelvin; white balance is the act of adjusting the white point, usually via RGB gain sliders. This page focuses on getting neutral greys via RGB gain; the colour temperature test focuses on the warm/cool feel and eye comfort.
Why do only the shadows (or only the highlights) look tinted?+
White balance can shift across the tone range — shadows may run warm while highlights run cool, or vice versa. That points to an imbalance in how one channel tracks brightness. Check near-black and near-white separately on the grey ramp; correcting it fully usually needs calibration rather than a single gain tweak.
How do RGB gain sliders work?+
Each slider sets the output of one channel (red, green, blue) at white. Lowering blue or raising red warms the image; the reverse cools it. Adjust in small steps and avoid extreme values, which compress the tonal range available in that channel. Aim for neutral greys, then recheck white.

Related Monitor Tests

Colour Temperature Test

Warm vs cool white point

Colour Accuracy Test

Hue accuracy and Delta-E

Calibration

Guided full calibration walkthrough

Checking a whole new panel?

Run the dead pixel test and browse the full monitor test suite.

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