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Defective pixel

broken pixel, generally on an LC-Display

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ549871
Source-derived summary

A defective pixel or a dead pixel is a pixel on a liquid crystal display (LCD) that is not functioning properly. The ISO standard ISO 13406-2 distinguishes between three different types of defective pixels, while hardware companies tend to have further distinguishing types.

Similar defects can also occur in charge-coupled device (CCD) and CMOS image sensors in digital cameras. In these devices, defective pixels fail to sense light levels correctly, whereas defective pixels in LCDs fail to reproduce light levels correctly.

Types

Dark dot defect

A dark dot defect is usually caused by a transistor in the transparent electrode layer that is stuck "on" for TN panels or "off" for MVA, PVA, and IPS panels. In that state, the liquid crystal material does not do any rotation so that the light from the backlight does not pass through the RGB layer of the display.

Bright dot defect

A bright dot defect or hot pixel is a group of three sub-pixels (one pixel) all of whose transistors are "off" for TN panels or stuck "on" for MVA and PVA panels. This allows all light to pass through to the RGB layer, creating a bright pixel that is always on.

Another cause of bright dot may be the presence of impurities in the liquid crystal. On the one hand, impurities will affect the alignment of liquid crystal molecules, and on the other hand, they can reflect light to form bright spots.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Defective pixel” as broken pixel, generally on an LC-Display. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 239-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Defective, pixel and broken can be independently traced.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as broken pixel, generally on an LC-Display. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q549871. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

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This entry incorporates text from Defective pixel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.