Dead Pixel vs. Stuck Pixel vs. Hot Pixel
These three terms get used interchangeably, but they describe genuinely different faults. Which one you have decides whether it can be repaired at all, and whether a warranty claim is likely to succeed — so it is worth five minutes to identify properly before you either give up or contact support.
First, how a pixel is built
Everything below follows from one detail: a single pixel is not one dot of light. Each pixel is made of three subpixels — one red, one green, one blue — sitting side by side, too small to see individually. Your screen mixes them at different intensities to produce every color you see. All three at full power make white; all three off make black.
A defect can affect the whole pixel or just one of its three subpixels, and that is precisely what separates a dead pixel from a stuck one.
Dead pixel
A dead pixel receives no power at all. The transistor that should drive it has failed, so all three subpixels stay off permanently and the pixel remains black no matter what the screen is asked to display. Because there is no signal reaching it, there is nothing for software to influence — which is why a dead pixel is not repairable.
Dead pixels hide well on dark content and stand out sharply on white, so people often notice them for the first time on a blank document or a bright web page rather than while gaming or watching a film.
Stuck pixel
A stuck pixel is still receiving power, but one or more of its subpixels is latched at a fixed value instead of responding to the signal. If the red subpixel is jammed on, you see a red dot; if the green and blue are jammed on, you see cyan. It stays that same color against every background.
This is the one worth trying to fix. The pixel is alive and still responding to power, so rapidly cycling high-contrast colors over it can sometimes shake the subpixel loose — which is exactly what the Stuck Pixel Fix does.
Hot pixel
A hot pixel is the opposite of dead: all three subpixels are stuck fully on, so it shows as a permanently bright white dot. It is effectively a stuck pixel at maximum intensity, and it is far more commonly discussed in photography than in displays, because it is a well-known camera-sensor fault that shows up as a bright speck in long-exposure shots. On a monitor, a bright white dot is usually described as a stuck pixel rather than a hot one, and manufacturers tend to group both under "bright" defects in their warranty terms.
Telling them apart at a glance
The reason the Dead & Stuck Pixel Check cycles through several colors rather than just one is that each defect hides on some backgrounds and stands out on others:
| Defect | On a black screen | On a white screen | Repairable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dead pixel | Invisible — black on black | Obvious black dot | No |
| Stuck pixel | Bright colored dot | Subtle, or a faint colored tint | Sometimes |
| Hot pixel | Bright white dot | Invisible — white on white | Rarely |
So the practical method is to check both extremes and a few colors in between. A dot that is black on every single color is dead. A dot that keeps showing the same color throughout is stuck. A dot that is white on black and disappears on white is hot.
Things that are not pixel defects
Plenty of marks that look like a failed pixel turn out to be something else entirely, so rule these out before assuming the worst:
- Dust or a smudge. It sits on the surface rather than in the panel, and it usually shifts or vanishes after a careful clean.
- A pressure mark. Pressing hard on a panel can leave a bright or discolored patch. Unlike a pixel defect it is normally larger than a single dot and has soft edges.
- Whole-area problems. A glow at the screen edge is backlight bleed or IPS glow, and stepped or blotchy shading across a gradient is banding or a uniformity issue. Neither is a pixel fault.
- A faint ghost of an old image. That is burn-in or image retention, not a dead pixel.
What to do next
Run the full test tool to confirm which defect you have and, just as importantly, how many there are and where they sit — a defect near the center of the screen is treated more seriously by some manufacturers than one near a corner. If it turns out to be stuck, try the fix. If it is dead, the manufacturer policy comparison shows how many defective pixels your brand tolerates before it will replace the panel, and how much stricter premium product lines tend to be.