Are OLED TVs or LED TVs more reliable? A long-term test says burn-in isn’t the biggest concern

1. Televisions

Are OLED TVs or LED TVs more reliable? A long-term test says burn-in isn’t the biggest concern News By Carrie Marshall published 23 December 2025

Is burn-in real? Yes. Should you worry? Probably not compared to other issues

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Future) Share Share by:

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Whatsapp
• Reddit
• Pinterest
• Flipboard
• Threads

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google

• A 3-year test of OLED TVs showed burn-in is highly unlikely with mixed viewing
• Edge-lit LCDs appear to fail before other kinds of TV in the test
• No clear correlation between price and longevity, however

When I was a teenager I used to devour scary stories, but nothing I read was as scary as the tale of the OLED with burn-in. You're probably familiar with it too: it's a tale of someone who buys one of the best OLED TVs only to see the logo of their favorite channel, or the HUD of their favorite game, burnt into the display forever. But like many cautionary tales, the likelihood of this happening may be smaller these days than the stories suggest.

That's what the results of an ongoing study by Rtings say, anyway. The folks there have been running over 100 TVs at maximum brightness for three years, racking up 18,000 viewing hours for each one. And while some OLEDs did indeed suffer issues, LCDs suffered far more serious problems.

Which TVs Break First? Results Overview From Our 100 TV Longevity Test - YouTube Watch On

How do OLED and LCD TVs handle nearly 20K viewing hours?

The ongoing testing has demonstrated several things, most notably that lower-end edge-lit LCD TVs appear to fail sooner than LCDs with better kinds of backlighting: the tested models suffered from warped reflector sheets, cracked light guide plates and burnt-out LEDs due to the heat they generate – although it's important to note that these tests run the TVs at maximum brightness, which isn't necessarily how you'd do it at home. That makes this a television torture test.

You may like

• I’m a trained TV calibrator, and here are the best TVs you can buy today
• The best OLED TVs for all budgets, as reviewed by our experts
• It's my job to test TVs, and these 3 models are the best value for money on the market

As of November 2025, 20 of the 100 TVs that started their testing in 2022 had failed completely, and a further 24 had experienced partial failures. The site has published full details of those failures and partial failures here.

What about OLEDs? Rtings found that both WOLED and QD-OLED TVs performed "exceedingly well", and while burn-in did develop during the torture test that shows a single logo on the screen for the entire time, that "isn't really an issue under mixed usage". Every OLED tested did develop burn-in, but previous testing found that unless you constantly watch content with static logos you're unlikely to encounter any issues with models from 2022 or later.

It's also worth noting that 18,000 hours of runtime is much more than most people will watch before upgrading their TVs: if you watched TV for three hours every day, it'd take you over 16 years to reach that figure.

So what does this mean for would-be TV buyers? While many of the entry-level TVs did fail over time, Rtings found no direct correlation between price and longevity. But it did find that OLEDs tended to be the most reliable and edge-lit LCD the least, so if you're in the market for a new TV then OLED, or LCD with local dimming zones may be the better buys.

Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Good news! In our guide to the best TVs, we only recommend options that fit this bill.

The best TVs for all budgetsOur top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

➡️ Read our full guide to the best TVs1. Best overall:LG C52. Best under 1000:US: Hisense U8QGUK: TCL C7K3. Best under 500:US: Roku Plus SeriesUK: TCL C6K

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

TOPICS OLED 4K Carrie MarshallSocial Links Navigation

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

Show More Comments

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Logout Read more It's my job to test TVs, and these 3 models are the best value for money on the market    New report says OLED TVs will be cheaper than ever to produce next year, though don't hold your breath for big discounts    The best 55-inch 4K TVs for all budgets, all tested by our experts    Want to know which 2025 LG OLED TV to buy? I tested three models side-by-side, and there's one clear winner    I put TCL’s affordable mini-LED TV and a Samsung QLED head-to-head, and here's where my money would go on Black Friday    The best gaming TV for all budgets, all real-world tested by our experts    Latest in Televisions LG announces next-gen version of its best OLED TV tech, and a new name    6 new 4K Blu-rays from December 2025 to add to your collection    LG’s 2026 TVs and soundbars get the Dolby Atmos FlexConnect treatment    JBL Bar 1300MK2 review: an almighty sequel with all the bells and whistles    What we know about Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL's imminent next-gen RGB TVs    Samsung's enormous micro-RGB TV is coming to smaller screen sizes, and it borrows one great feature from Samsung OLED TVs    Latest in News Marvel Rivals studio teases a big year ahead for the game — 'We're not going to slow down'    DDR5 RAM kit from Corsair was reportedly swapped for dummy RGB modules    Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai robot vacuum first impressions: redemption?    Surfshark expands dedicated IP to Linux in its latest desktop update    ‘It’s good to have limitations’: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's creative director says Sandfall Interactive's next game won’t on a bigger scale despite huge success    iOS 26.3 adds AirPods features to third-party earbuds — but just in the EU    LATEST ARTICLES

1. 1Santa tracker 2025 live – where is Santa right now and how to track him with NORAD and Google
2. 2Remote desktop software isn't just for work - DeskIn wants to help boost your gaming experience with a tool that's more at home in an office
3. 3$300 Intel B50 video card emerges as a surprisingly capable Pro GPU — but Nvidia's older Ada generation emerges as a bit of a bargain
4. 4Worrying WhatsApp attack can steal messages and even accounts - here's how to stay safe from "poisoned" attack
5. 5I've been testing this Eufy robovac for two weeks, and it has some of the best mopping I've seen