The short answer
A stuck pixel shows a colour and can sometimes be recovered; a dead pixel is black and cannot. Run a full-screen colour test to identify which you have. Manufacturers have a minimum number of faulty pixels before they will replace a panel, and it is usually higher than one.
A single bright dot on an otherwise perfect screen is maddening out of all proportion to its size. Whether anything can be done depends on which kind it is, and the difference is easy to establish in a couple of minutes.
Telling them apart
Display a full-screen white image
A blank document or a white test image. Black dots on white are dead pixels.
Display full black
Bright dots on black are stuck pixels, permanently lit in one colour.
Cycle through red, green and blue
A pixel that fails to change with the rest is stuck on that subpixel. This identifies exactly what is wrong.
Clean the screen properly first
Dust and marks look exactly like pixel faults. A microfibre cloth lightly dampened with water settles this immediately.
Check whether it moves
A spot that changes position between images is dirt or a reflection, not a pixel.
What can be recovered
Stuck pixels are transistors holding a value rather than failing. Sometimes they can be persuaded to resume normal operation:
- Pixel exercising videos, which flash rapidly changing colours across the whole screen. Running one for several hours occasionally frees a stuck pixel. It is harmless and it does no more than exercise the panel.
- Gentle pressure, applied through a soft cloth with a blunt object while the screen displays black, then released as it displays white. This works occasionally and carries a real risk of creating a worse problem, so weigh it carefully.
- Time, since some stuck pixels recover on their own over weeks.
Dead pixels receive no power and cannot be revived by any method. Nothing you do at home will change that, and anything promising to is not describing what is happening physically.
Pressing on a screen risks damaging the layers beneath, creating a permanent blotch far larger than the pixel you were trying to fix. On an OLED panel in particular, pressure damage is immediate and irreversible. Consider whether one pixel is worth that risk before trying it.
What manufacturers accept
Panels are manufactured with a tolerance for faulty pixels, and warranty policies state a minimum number before a panel counts as defective. That number varies by manufacturer, by panel size and sometimes by where on the screen the faults are, with faults near the centre treated more seriously than ones at the edge.
One faulty pixel on a large television is often within tolerance, which is frustrating and is the stated policy rather than an evasion. Several in a cluster, or a number above the stated threshold, is a valid claim.
If you are within a retailer’s return window, that is a far easier route than a warranty claim, because retailers generally accept a return for a visible defect regardless of the manufacturer’s pixel policy. Check the screen thoroughly in the first fortnight for exactly this reason.
What looks like a pixel fault and is not
- Dust behind the panel, which appears as a fixed dark spot that does not change with colour. It is inside the display and cannot be cleaned from outside.
- A pressure mark from packaging or transport, which appears as a lighter or darker area rather than a single point.
- Burn-in on OLED, which is a faint persistent outline rather than a point, and is covered separately.
- A compression artefact in the content, which moves or disappears with different material.
- A failing backlight LED, which produces a dimmer area rather than a single dark pixel.
Photograph the fault against a plain background at the resolution your phone allows, with the screen showing white and again showing black. If you do make a claim, clear evidence of what the fault looks like on both backgrounds saves a great deal of correspondence.
Living with it
The honest advice for a single dead pixel outside the return window is that most people stop noticing within a few weeks. The eye is drawn to it initially and then filters it out. If it sits in the middle of the screen and is genuinely distracting during use, that is a different matter and worth pursuing with the retailer.
For a computer monitor, where you look at the same area of the screen for hours, tolerance is understandably lower, and monitor manufacturers generally have stricter pixel policies than television makers for exactly that reason.
What is the difference between a dead and a stuck pixel?
A stuck pixel is permanently lit in one colour and can occasionally be recovered. A dead pixel receives no power, appears black, and cannot be revived.
Do pixel fixing videos work?
Sometimes for stuck pixels, by rapidly exercising the transistor. They do nothing for dead pixels, and they are harmless to try.
Will the manufacturer replace my TV for one dead pixel?
Usually not, because panel warranties specify a minimum number of faulty pixels. A retailer return within the purchase window is generally the easier route for a single visible defect.
Is it safe to press on the screen?
It carries a genuine risk of causing permanent damage larger than the original fault, particularly on OLED. Weigh that against the annoyance of one pixel.
Can dead pixels spread?
A single dead pixel does not spread. A cluster appearing over time, or a growing dark area, indicates a failing panel or a connection problem and is worth reporting under warranty.
The short version
Clean the screen, then run white, black, red, green and blue full-screen images to identify what you have. Stuck pixels may respond to a pixel exercising video; dead ones will not. Check the manufacturer’s stated pixel policy before making a claim, and use the retailer’s return window if you are still inside it, because that is by far the easier path.
