What is IPS Glow? – Everything You Need to Know About It
You might have noticed a faint glow on the corners of your computer’s or laptop’s IPS display – that’s mostly visible with a dark background on the screen. This ‘glowing’ of the corners of an IPS panel monitor is referred to as IPS glow.
Having said that, this glow is quite obvious in dark environments or especially when the layout on the screen is dark. Besides, this is considered to be one of the glaring issues with these high-end monitors.
However, it’s not that you don’t have solutions to reduce the effect of IPS glow. And for that, you need to have a complete understanding of what is IPS glow; alongside the various aspects relevant to it.
So make sure to read the guide down below in order to learn everything about it. That said, let’s get started:
Contents
What is IPS Glow?

As it is obvious from the name, IPS glow is a problem that occurs in IPS panels only. In addition to that, it refers to the emission of excessive light from the corners of your IPS displays. Besides, it is considered as a technology-related issue and not a hardware defect.
With that being said, let’s have a complete overview of this defect and explore more about it in detail:
What Causes IPS Glow?
One of the major reasons that you experience IPS glow in your IPS panel monitors is the passing of extra light from the corners of the display screen. In addition to that, this is a manufacturing fault in the displays, as the mechanism followed by IPS panels is in a way that they work by emitting light from the background to the screen.
IPS Glow Test
Are you wondering how’d you come to know whether the IPS monitor you’re going to buy has the problem of IPS glow or not? If so, then we have got you covered! There’s a simple way of having an IPS glow test that would help you detect the issue within your IPS panel monitor.
Now:
As mentioned earlier already, IPS glow is widely visible in dark environments. So one of the simple ways of finding out whether your monitor has IPS glow or not is as follows:

Turn off (or else dim) all the ambient lights in your room. Then follow it by opening a dark/black screen on your monitor. By doing so, you’d be able to detect the IPS glow from your IPS panel monitor, as the faint glow can be seen perfectly in darker environments.
With that being said, you can have an IPS glow test in normal light too, as some IPS monitors have quite serious IPS glows.
How to reduce IPS Glow: Reddit
Since IPS panels are manufactured in a way that they work by emitting light from the background on the screen, so the excessive light coming out of the corners cannot be helped. Also, IPS glow is not a hardware issue and is also not that consistent in every display.
Having said that, you can opt for a few possibilities that can help reduce the IPS glow. For instance: you can reduce the brightness of your monitor to a point where the excessive light from the corners gets bearable; or else, you can add more light to your room. Other than that, adjusting the angle of your screen can also help in this regard.
IPS Glow vs. Backlight Bleed: What’s the Difference?

Now some of you might be confusing the phenomena of IPS glow with backlight bleed, as both of them involve emission of excessive light. Nevertheless, there is plenty of difference between the two, since both of them have different causes and effects.
So to begin with that, let’s have a comparison of both the defects in order to grab the major difference between them:
Starting off by describing what backlight bleed is, it is the leakage of light around the edges of the screen of your computer display. In addition to that, unlike the IPS glow, backlight bleed is a monitor or hardware defect.
That being said, the problem of backlight bleed usually occurs in VA panel types. However, there is no such compulsion in this regard, as this defect can show up in any monitor.
Aside from that, another thing that makes backlight bleed varying from IPS glow is that you can try many fixes to avoid this defect. For instance: fixing it all the way by dismantling the display and applying electric tape, using microfiber cloth rubbing to reduce the effect, or by making use of Local Dimming Option.
Now lastly, what makes IPS glow a bit of a normal thing is that you can simply adjust the angle of your monitor to avoid the issue – unlike the lengthy processes of fixing backlight bleed.
And this is pretty much it! These were all the things that make the two display defects stand out from each other. Let’s now move forward to wrap up our discussion on what is IPS glow.
FAQs
-
What causes IPS glow?
The foremost reason behind the extra glowing of the corners of the IPS panel monitors is that there is extra light, which is passing through the display panel. With that being said, this is a natural and kind of ‘expected’ defect in almost all the IPS monitors. Besides, this cannot be characterized as a hardware issue – just like backlight bleed
-
Can I eliminate IPS glow?
Since IPS glow is a technology-related issue and is not a defect in the hardware, there is no such permanent fix to this.
However, you can try a few things like reducing monitor brightness, adding lighting to your room, or adjusting the angle to which you look at your screen. These might have an impact on the excessive glow from the corners of the monitor.
-
Can IPS glow get worse over time?
As there is no such thing like eliminating IPS glow completely, there is no such thing either as IPS glow getting worse. In simple words, the glowing of the corners of your PS panel monitors does not get worse over time. Rather it remains the same throughout.
-
Is IPS glow normal?
For the most part, it is actually a normal or natural thing in most of the IPS panel monitors. Nevertheless, it still is considered as a ‘problem’ or ‘defect’. Apart from that, this does not make the IPS monitors lose their worth.