What Is Ghosting and How Do You Fix It?
Ghosting is a smeared trail behind moving objects, caused by pixels changing color too slowly.
See it first
Run the Ghosting Test. Watch the moving blocks:
- A faint trail behind the object = ghosting (pixels too slow).
- A bright fringe or inverse trail = overshoot (overdrive too aggressive).
The fix: overdrive
Monitors include an overdrive (a.k.a. Response Time, OD, TraceFree, Overshoot) setting that pushes pixels to switch faster.
- Find it in your monitor's OSD.
- Step through the levels while watching the Ghosting Test.
- Pick the level with the least trailing and no obvious overshoot — usually the middle setting, not the maximum.
Other factors
- Refresh rate: higher Hz shortens the time each frame is shown, reducing perceived blur.
- Panel type: VA panels ghost more in dark transitions; TN and good IPS are faster.
- VA "black smearing": dark-to-dark transitions are the slowest — judge overdrive using the dark rows of the test.
The "best" overdrive can change with refresh rate, so re-check if you switch between 60Hz and your panel's max.