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How we checked this: we haven’t measured VRR flicker on our own OLED hardware. Everything below comes from published lab measurements, maker support pages and NVIDIA’s documentation, linked in the sources and checked on 2026-10-25. Spot something that doesn’t match your screen? Tell us and we’ll fix it. More on our method on the how we test page.
You bought an OLED for the inky blacks. Then a dark corridor in a game starts to shimmer, or a loading screen pulses like a cheap disco light. Annoying, and a bit alarming on a screen that cost this much.
Here’s the reassuring part. This is a known side effect of variable refresh rate on OLED panels, and it’s usually not a fault. You can reduce it a lot, and you can stop it completely if you’re willing to give up VRR.
Is it VRR flicker? A 30-second check
VRR flicker has a pattern. Match yours against this table before you change anything.
| What you see | Likely cause | Where to go |
|---|---|---|
| Flashing or shimmering in dark areas of a game, worse when the frame rate dips | VRR flicker | This guide |
| Loading screens and menus pulse, gameplay looks fine | VRR flicker (frame rate swings a lot on loading screens) | This guide, and judge it in gameplay |
| The screen blacks out for a second, even on the desktop | Cable, port or signal | Monitor flickering guide |
| Flicker with G-Sync and FreeSync both turned off | Not VRR. Driver, cable or the panel | Monitor flickering guide |
| A faint logo or taskbar shape that stays on screen | Image retention or burn-in | Burn-in vs image retention |
The quickest proof: turn VRR off (steps below) and load the same scene. Flicker gone? It was VRR. Still there? It’s something else, and the flicker guide walks through the other causes, cheapest first.
One thing it isn’t: backlight PWM. OLED pixels make their own light, so there’s no backlight to pulse. RTINGS makes the same point in its video on OLED VRR flicker.
Why OLED screens flicker with G-Sync and FreeSync
An OLED panel’s gamma, the curve that decides how bright each shade of gray looks, is tuned for one fixed refresh rate, usually the panel’s native maximum. VRR keeps changing the refresh rate to follow your game. Every time it moves away from that tuned rate, the gamma drifts with it, and you see that drift as flicker. That’s how TFTCentral explains it after measuring a batch of OLED monitors in 2025.
The OLED Association described the same mechanism back in 2021, in a statement quoted by FlatpanelsHD: below 120Hz, the subpixels on those TV panels get overcharged, “causing flickering of dark gray images.”
Why dark scenes? Your eyes are far more sensitive to small brightness changes in near-black than in bright areas. In TFTCentral’s worst case, an Asus PG27AQDP swinging from 480Hz down to 10Hz, a near-black gray of RGB 5 rose as high as RGB 16. In bright grays the same swing moved things by about 2 steps, which most people won’t notice.
WOLED and QD-OLED panels seem to misbehave differently, too. On the WOLED monitors TFTCentral tested, brightness tracked the frame rate directly, so bigger fps swings meant bigger flicker. On the QD-OLED models it saw short random spikes instead, more often at low frame rates. TFTCentral calls this an early finding from a handful of screens, so treat it as a tendency, not a rule.
Fix 1: Turn VRR off and see
This is the only fix that removes VRR flicker completely. It’s also a test: if the flicker stays with VRR off, you’re chasing a different problem.
- NVIDIA: open NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Display > Set up G-SYNC and clear the Enable G-SYNC/G-SYNC Compatible box. NVIDIA’s G-SYNC setup help has the same path. Expected result: the dark-scene flashing stops.
- AMD: switch off FreeSync in AMD Software’s display settings, or turn it off in the monitor’s own menu.
- Console on a TV: turn VRR off in the console’s video output settings, or in the TV’s game menu.
- Check the result with the refresh rate test. With VRR off, you want your monitor’s full fixed rate, not 60Hz. If it shows 60, our 144Hz showing 60Hz guide sorts that out.
Our take: if your PC already holds a steady frame rate near the monitor’s maximum, VRR isn’t buying you much, and leaving it off is a perfectly sensible answer. TFTCentral says much the same. Turn on V-Sync in the game if you see tearing.
Fix 2: Keep the frame rate steady
Big, sudden fps swings trigger the worst flicker, so anything that flattens your frame rate helps.
- Cap the frame rate a few fps below your maximum refresh rate. NVIDIA’s Max Frame Rate article recommends exactly this to stay inside the VRR range: NVIDIA Control Panel > 3D Settings > Max Frame Rate. Many games have their own limiter too.
- Lower the settings that cause dips. Ray tracing and the highest shadow quality are usual suspects. Upscaling in Quality mode often steadies things more than dropping a whole preset.
- Watch the dips, not the average. A game averaging 140 fps that falls to 70 in busy scenes will flicker more than one that sits at a flat 100.
A catch on WOLED: because brightness tracks frame rate on those panels, capping far below the maximum can lift the blacks and make shadows look gray. TFTCentral saw exactly that. Cap just under the max first, and only go lower if the flicker still bugs you.
Fix 3: Use the anti-flicker mode or a narrower VRR range
Some OLED monitors now ship with an “OLED Anti-Flicker” or similar setting. These narrow the range VRR works in, so the refresh rate can’t swing as far. On the Asus PG27AQDP, TFTCentral measured the modes like this:
| Anti-flicker setting | VRR range | Worst-case near-black shift (RGB 5) |
|---|---|---|
| Off | 480 to 40Hz | 11 steps |
| Middle | 480 to 165Hz | 8.5 steps |
| High | 480 to 210Hz | 7 steps |
So it helps, without curing it. There’s a trade-off: below the narrowed range, the monitor uses Low Framerate Compensation (LFC), and TFTCentral saw a jarring brightness jump right at that boundary. If your game keeps crossing it, a higher anti-flicker level can look worse. Pick the setting where your usual frame rate stays well inside one zone.
TVs have their own versions. LG’s FreeSync help page says its QNED and LED models offer High (90 to 120Hz) and Wide (48 to 120Hz) ranges, and to pick High if the screen flickers in some games. LG’s UK support page adds that FreeSync only works over HDMI in Game Optimizer mode. On 2019 and 2020 LG OLEDs, a firmware update added Fine Tune Dark Areas under Picture > Additional Settings to adjust black levels in VRR mode. LG said the update “can mitigate some” of the raised-black effect, and FlatpanelsHD noted it wouldn’t fully remove the issue.
Don’t judge it on a loading screen
Loading screens are the worst case: mostly dark, often static, and the frame rate swings wildly while the game loads. TFTCentral’s tip is to wait until you’re in actual gameplay before deciding whether the flicker is a real problem. Same goes for pause menus.
Room lighting matters as well. In a dark room your eyes adapt to the dark, so flicker in dark scenes is easier to see. A lamp behind the screen won’t fix anything, but it can make it less distracting.
Is my OLED faulty?
Probably not, if the flicker only shows up with VRR on, in games, and mostly in dark scenes. TFTCentral calls VRR flicker “an inherent challenge for all OLED monitors”, and it varies a lot from model to model, even within one brand. Two monitors from the same maker can behave quite differently.
It’s worth a support ticket when the flicker shows up with VRR off, on the desktop, or in the monitor’s own menu. That’s not VRR flicker. Run through the monitor flickering guide first, since a cable or driver is the usual culprit, then contact the maker while the screen is still under warranty.
Shopping for a new OLED and worried about this? Look for reviews that test VRR flicker specifically. TFTCentral now does, and RTINGS has covered it too. The VESA AdaptiveSync logo does include flicker tests, at fixed and changing refresh rates, on a mid-gray pattern according to VESA’s compliance test spec. But RTINGS found that 3 of the 6 AdaptiveSync-certified monitors in its first sample still flickered in its own testing. RTINGS put the difference down to method: VESA’s test uses a mid-gray pattern, and the flicker is worst in dark scenes.
If it can’t be fixed
If your OLED flickers with VRR turned off, at a fixed refresh rate, or in its own on-screen menu, it isn’t VRR flicker. Go through the monitor flickering guide, try a different cable and a second device, then contact the maker’s support with the model number while it’s under warranty. A brand-new screen with flicker you can’t explain is also a good reason to use the retailer’s return window instead of spending weekends on it.
Frequently asked questions
Do all OLED monitors have VRR flicker?
All OLED panels can show it, according to TFTCentral, but how much varies by model, game, frame rate and settings. Some flicker visibly only in near-black scenes with big fps swings. Others show it more often.
Does capping my frame rate fix OLED VRR flicker?
It reduces it by keeping the frame rate steadier. NVIDIA recommends capping slightly below your maximum refresh rate to stay in the VRR range. On WOLED panels, capping far lower can raise black levels, so start just under the max.
Should I turn off G-Sync or FreeSync on my OLED?
If the flicker bothers you, yes, it’s the one setting that removes it. You lose VRR’s tear-free smoothing when frame rates dip, so turn on V-Sync in the game if you see tearing. If your frame rate stays high and steady, you may barely notice the difference.
Does VRR flicker happen on IPS or VA monitors?
TFTCentral didn’t see it on the IPS monitors it had on hand. TFTCentral notes that RTINGS’ testing suggests VA panels can flicker with VRR too. OLED gets the most attention because it’s so visible in dark scenes.
Is VRR flicker the same as burn-in?
No. VRR flicker comes and goes with the frame rate and stops when VRR is off. Burn-in is a faint image that stays put. If you see a lingering shape, run the burn-in test.
Related fixes
- Monitor flickering? How to find the cause and fix it
- Refresh rate test (free tool)
- 144Hz monitor showing 60Hz? How to fix it
- OLED burn-in or image retention? How to tell, fix and prevent it
- Monitor fix guides
Sources
- TFTCentral: Exploring and Testing OLED VRR Flicker (June 2025), checked 2026-10-25.
- FlatpanelsHD: LG releases new firmware to mitigate VRR raised black issues in 2020 OLED TVs, checked 2026-10-25.
- LG US: How to set the AMD FreeSync function, checked 2026-10-25.
- LG UK: How to check and enable AMD FreeSync on your LG TV, checked 2026-10-25.
- NVIDIA: Max Frame Rate: Cap Frame Rates, Save Power, and More, checked 2026-10-25.
- NVIDIA Control Panel help: To set up G-SYNC, checked 2026-10-25.
- VESA Adaptive-Sync Display Compliance Test Specification r1.1a, checked 2026-10-25.
- RTINGS: VRR Flicker On OLEDs Is A Real Problem (YouTube), checked 2026-10-25.
