QLED vs. OLED: Which TV display type is better?
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I've been reviewing home theater gear for over a decade, and I put the latest TVs through their paces every year. While there are several display technologies to choose from, two types consistently rise to the top of the best TVs you can buy: QLED and OLED.
When it comes to QLED vs. OLED, there's no clear-cut winner. Each has its own strengths and trade-offs. High-end QLED TVs, like the TCL QM8K, shine when it comes to brightness and price, making them a strong option for sunny rooms or larger screen sizes. OLED TVs, such as the Samsung S90F, typically deliver deeper black levels, better contrast, and wider viewing angles, which can make movies and shows look more accurate and cinematic.
To cut through the marketing buzzwords and help you figure out which display type makes the most sense for your setup, I've compared QLED and OLED head-to-head across several key categories. Here's how they stack up.
What is a QLED TV?
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QLEDs are a type of LCD (liquid crystal display) TV that incorporates a color technology called quantum dots into their screens. Like other LCD TVs, these displays use LED (light-emitting diode) backlights to illuminate their picture since each pixel can't emit light on its own.
To get to the "QLED" branding, manufacturers simply married the "Q" from quantum dots with "LED." But the "QLED" acronym is more of a marketing term than a truly distinct TV technology. In other words, when you buy a QLED TV, you're really buying an LED-backlit LCD that has quantum dots. That said, quantum dots are a cool feature, and they make a difference when it comes to picture quality.
Quantum dots are nanocrystals that emit different colors when exposed to light. QLED TVs include a layer or filter of quantum dots, which enables a wider and brighter range of colors than you'd get on a display without this feature. QLED TVs are available from every major brand, including Samsung, Sony, TCL, Vizio, Hisense, Roku, and Amazon. LG also sells TVs that incorporate quantum dots, but it brands them as "QNED."
QLED TVs may or may not include an additional feature called full-array local dimming. This feature enables a QLED to brighten or darken specific zones across its backlight to enhance its contrast and produce brighter highlights and deeper black levels. Some QLEDs even use Mini LEDs in their backlights rather than regular-sized LEDs, which allows them to have more dimming zones for more precise contrast control. QLED TVs with Mini LEDs are sometimes branded as "QD-Mini LED," "Neo QLED," or just "Mini LED."
Entry-level QLEDs with local dimming start at around 16 to 32 zones, while midrange models often have a couple of hundred, and high-end options with Mini LED backlights can have over 1,000. But even with thousands of zones, local dimming on a QLED can't produce pixel-level contrast control since there are over 8 million pixels in a 4K resolution display.
What is an OLED TV?
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OLED TVs use "organic light-emitting diode" panels. Unlike QLED TVs, which are a type of LCD, OLED TVs rely on an entirely different technology.
Whereas a QLED TV requires a backlight to illuminate its pixels, OLED TVs don't need a backlight at all. Instead, each subpixel in an OLED panel can emit light. This enables perfect precision over contrast and black levels with the ability for each pixel to completely dim or brighten independently, something that QLEDs can't achieve.
OLED TVs are available in the US from brands like LG, Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic. Although there are a few variations of OLED TV technology, they all provide the same general contrast and black-level capabilities. However, certain types of OLED panels can offer different color and brightness performance.
The standard type of OLED is called WRGB OLED (also known as WOLED), and this is the type of panel you'll find in most entry-level and midrange OLED TVs from LG and Sony. Compared to other OLED types, these panels tend to be the dimmest and can't reach the same color volume as more advanced OLEDs.
To help improve brightness, LG and Panasonic launched an improved type of OLED panel, which Panasonic calls Primary RGB Tandem OLED and LG calls four-stack OLED. This type of OLED can get much brighter than a standard WRGB OLED, and it can also provide a wider range of colors. The LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B are the first OLEDs to use this tech.
Finally, there are also QD-OLED TVs to consider. The "QD" before OLED stands for quantum dots. Yep, that's right, this type of OLED incorporates quantum dots just like QLED TVs do. By using quantum dots in their panels, QD-OLEDs can also achieve a brighter image with a wider range of colors than a WRGB OLED. Samsung sells various QD-OLED models like the S90F 4K TV and S95F 4K TV, while Sony also uses the tech in its premium Bravia 8 II.
Four-stack/Primary RGB Tandem OLED and QD-OLED panels deliver very similar performance, but there are minor differences. Based on the models released so far, the top four-stack OLEDs have had a slight edge in brightness, while the top QD-OLEDs have had a slight edge in color.
QLED vs. OLED: Contrast and black levels
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Though some high-end QLEDs get close, OLED TVs are still the kings of contrast and black levels, no matter which model you buy.
Thanks to their self-illuminating pixels, OLEDs can achieve an infinite contrast ratio while producing perfect black levels since their pixels can completely turn off. QLEDs, on the other hand, rely on a backlight, which can cause black levels to appear elevated, often veering toward a gray or slightly blue tone. This can give images an overall washed-out, milky, and flat look, especially when watching TV with the lights off.
However, QLED models with local dimming can significantly reduce this issue, and several high-end options, such as the Sony Bravia 9, come remarkably close to producing OLED-like black levels. But even the best local dimming implementations still introduce side effects that OLED TVs don't suffer from.
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Most notably, local dimming can cause an issue called "blooming." This results in a halo-like effect around bright objects against dark backgrounds, like burning candles, since even top QLEDs simply don't have enough zones to dim every pixel surrounding these objects precisely.
Blooming is usually hard to see when watching TV with the lights on, but it can be distracting when watching certain scenes in a dark room. Likewise, blooming becomes more noticeable when you sit off to the side of a QLED.
Although manufacturers continue to improve local dimming, OLEDs still have a clear edge in contrast and black levels, and these picture quality attributes have the most dramatic impact on overall image performance.
QLED vs. OLED: Brightness
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For a long time, top QLED TVs were the undisputed champs of brightness, but the gap between a high-end QLED and a high-end OLED has narrowed in recent years. The most expensive QLEDs are still brighter than even the most advanced OLEDs, but high-end OLED TVs are no longer as dim as they once were.
When evaluating brightness on a TV, the industry uses a unit of measurement called a "nit." The more nits a TV can output, the brighter its image appears. Entry-level QLED TVs can hit about 250 to 400 nits of brightness, while midrange models offer around 600 to 1,800 nits, and high-end QLEDs can achieve 2,000 to over 4,000 nits.
On the other hand, entry-level OLED models can produce 500 to 700 nits, midrange models can produce 800 to 1,400 nits, and the very best OLED TVs available right now can produce around 1,500 to 2,400 nits. While 2,400 nits is impressive, it's still dimmer than the brightest QLED.
High brightness is most useful when watching TV in a room that receives a lot of light, as increasing the brightness can help mitigate glare and reflections. Likewise, high brightness enables a TV to accurately reproduce high-dynamic-range movies and TV shows with the full intensity that filmmakers intended, allowing highlights to truly shine.
Most HDR content is graded for a max of 1,000 nits, so ideally, you want a TV that can get as close to that peak as possible. Some movies are graded for an even brighter peak of 4,000 nits or higher, which is where top QLEDs have an advantage over OLEDs. For more info about high dynamic range formats and display technology, check out our HDR TV guide.
Ultimately, most OLED TVs can still get bright enough for an average room, and their pixel-level contrast helps them deliver exceptional HDR performance even if some especially bright elements (like an explosion) look a little dimmer than they would on a QLED. However, if you want the absolute brightest image possible, a high-end QLED TV still yields the best results.
QLED vs. OLED: Color performance
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Regarding color, OLED and QLED TVs offer very similar performance. That said, some high-end QLEDs have a slight edge over a typical OLED.
Thanks to quantum dot technology, the best QLED TVs can provide a wide spectrum of colors, along with high color volume, which enables those colors to appear very bright when needed. Meanwhile, all OLED TVs, even those without quantum dots, can also achieve a wide spectrum of colors, but color volume isn't as high on a WOLED as it is on a top QLED.
Ultimately, this means that some extremely bright colors may appear dimmer and less saturated than intended on an OLED, while they approach their intended vibrancy on a top QLED TV.
That said, QD-OLED TVs, which also use quantum dots, can offer higher color volume than a regular OLED, and in some cases, they can match or even exceed the color volume offered by premium QLED TVs.
QLED vs. OLED: Viewing angles
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All OLED TVs offer better viewing angles than even the best QLED models. This means you can sit off to the side of an OLED display without seeing any major loss in color, contrast, or overall picture quality. Some OLEDs are susceptible to small shifts in color tint from an angle, but the effect is nowhere near as distracting as it is on a typical QLED.
Though some QLEDs are better than others, the majority suffer from poor viewing angles. This is especially true on entry-level and midrange models from budget-friendly brands like TCL and Hisense. While image quality appears great on these TVs when positioned centrally, colors fade, and black levels distort when viewed from off-center angles.
Some LG and Samsung QLED TVs, like the QN90F, are much better at handling off-axis viewing than cheaper options. But even those models are inferior to the wider viewing angles of an OLED TV. If you want the same picture quality no matter where you or your guests sit in the room, an OLED TV is the display type to choose.
QLED vs. OLED: Burn-in
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Burn-in is an issue that can occur on some displays when a static image is left on the screen for an extended period. When burn-in occurs, a faint outline of the static image becomes permanently stuck on the display.
Although QLED TVs are not 100% protected from this problem, cases of burn-in on QLED TVs are so uncommon that they're not considered to be at risk. The same can't be said about an OLED TV. Burn-in can occur on an OLED in extreme cases if proper precautions are not taken.
For instance, if you frequently watch the same cable network with a big static logo at the bottom of the screen without ever changing the channel, you could eventually encounter burn-in. However, while viewers should be aware of this, all OLED TVs come with built-in features designed to mitigate the risk of burn-in, including pixel refreshers, pixel shift modes, and logo dimmers.
I had an LG CX OLED TV in my own home theater for more than three years. I used it to watch cable TV, sports, and movies, as well as play video games (with lots of static elements), and the screen never showed signs of burn-in.
QLED TVs technically have the advantage here, as burn-in is something owners never need to worry about. But I don't think people with regular viewing habits should consider burn-in to be a dealbreaker when deciding whether to buy an OLED.
QLED vs OLED: Price
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Compared to OLED TVs, QLEDs are available across a wider range of budgets, with more affordable entry-level and midrange options. For that reason, most of my best budget TV picks are QLED displays.
You can find budget-friendly 65-inch QLED TVs, such as the TCL QM6K, for under $600, and midrange models for around $650 to $1,000. Meanwhile, the cheapest 65-inch OLED TVs start at around $1,000, and midrange options start at around $1,300 when on sale. Once you jump up to larger screen sizes, the price difference between QLED and OLED models gets even more dramatic.
However, it's important to note that image quality varies much more across different QLED models depending on which budget class you buy, while the difference between an entry-level OLED and a premium OLED's picture performance is far less substantial.
The bottom line
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QLED and OLED TVs each have their pros and cons, with OLEDs having an edge in contrast and viewing angles, while top QLEDs have an edge in brightness. Ultimately, which is right for your needs really comes down to what you prioritize, how much you want to spend, and what kind of room you plan to put your TV in.
If you want the best 4K TV for high-end picture quality, I recommend OLED models. An OLED's superior black-level performance and infinite contrast ratio offer a more noticeable benefit than any of a QLED's unique strengths, especially if you like to watch movies with the lights off. However, top QLED TVs are better suited for bright rooms, and you can find a larger assortment of affordable midrange models.
Consider an OLED TV if ...
- You want the best movie-watching experience in a dark room
- You want an infinite contrast ratio with perfect black levels
- You want wide viewing angles so you get great picture quality, no matter where you sit
- You're willing to spend top dollar, especially at larger screen sizes
Consider a QLED TV if ...
- You want an extra-bright display to combat glare in a well-lit room
- You want the brightest colors and most intense HDR highlights
- You want lots of budget-friendly options, albeit with downgraded performance
- You don't want to ever think twice about burn-in
Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/Ty0ajku
Reviewed by mimisabreena
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Friday, December 26, 2025
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