Ghosting & Motion Blur Test.
Track a moving UFO with your eyes — a smeared trail is ghosting, a bright halo is overdrive overshoot. Four modes, adjustable speed. Free, in your browser.
How the ghosting test works
Your eyes smoothly track a moving object, but the screen only updates in discrete frames — so if a pixel is slow to change colour, you perceive a smear trailing the object. Following the motion with your gaze (a "pursuit" test) is what makes ghosting visible; staring at a fixed point hides it. This test gives you a clean object to track and a speed control to push your panel.
- 1. Go full screen and pick a speed. Start moderate, then raise the speed — ghosting grows as motion gets faster.
- 2. Track the object. Follow the UFO with your eyes across the screen; look at its trailing edge for a faded smear.
- 3. Check for overshoot. On the black background, a bright halo behind the object means overdrive is too aggressive.
- 4. Tune and re-test. Adjust your monitor's overdrive / response-time setting and run it again to find the cleanest level.
Want refresh-synced, frame-accurate motion patterns? The specialist TestUFO goes deeper; this test keeps it quick and simple.
What your results mean
What the trail behind the moving object looks like tells you whether your pixels are too slow, too aggressively driven, or just fine.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A crisp object with a clean trailing edge | Fast pixel response — no ghosting | Nothing to do. |
| A faded, smeared trail behind the object | Ghosting — pixels are changing colour too slowly | Raise your monitor's overdrive / response-time setting one notch and re-test. |
| A bright halo or corona behind it on the black background | Inverse ghosting — overdrive overshoot, set too aggressively | Lower the overdrive / response-time setting one notch. |
| Trailing gets noticeably worse in the dark UFO-on-black mode | Slow dark-to-dark pixel transitions — common on VA panels | Try the medium overdrive level; some VA ghosting is inherent to the panel. |
| Text blurs or becomes unreadable in the reading test | Poor motion clarity at this speed | Confirm the panel is running at its full native refresh rate with the Refresh Rate Test. |
Frequently asked questions
What is monitor ghosting?
Ghosting is a faint trail or smear that follows moving objects on screen, caused by pixels changing colour too slowly to keep up with motion. As an object moves, pixels that should already be showing the new frame are still fading from the old one, so you see a ghost of where it just was. It is most obvious in fast games and when you track a moving object with your eyes.
How do I test for ghosting?
Launch the test full screen and follow the moving UFO with your eyes (this is called a pursuit test). A sharp object with a clean trailing edge means fast pixels; a smeared, faded trail behind it is ghosting. Use the speed control to make the motion faster — ghosting grows with speed. The trailing-blocks mode shows edge ghosting most clearly, and the reading test tells you whether text stays legible in motion.
What is inverse ghosting or overshoot?
Inverse ghosting (overshoot, or a "corona") is a bright or oddly-coloured halo behind a moving object, and it is the opposite problem to normal ghosting. It happens when a monitor's overdrive — a feature that speeds up pixel transitions — is set too aggressively and pushes the pixel past its target value. The UFO-on-black mode makes it easy to spot. If you see it, lower the overdrive / response-time setting in your monitor's menu one notch.
How do I reduce ghosting on my monitor?
Find the overdrive setting in your monitor's menu (often called "Response Time", "OD", "TraceFree", "Rampage Response" or similar) and try the medium/normal level — the strongest setting usually causes overshoot, and off usually causes ghosting, so the middle is often best. Make sure you are running the panel at its full refresh rate, and note that VA panels ghost more in dark scenes than IPS or TN. Some ghosting is inherent to the panel and can be reduced but not eliminated.
Is this the same as the TestUFO motion test?
It uses the same idea — a moving object you track with your eyes to reveal motion blur and ghosting — kept deliberately simple and clean. For very fine, refresh-synced motion analysis and advanced patterns, the dedicated TestUFO is the specialist tool. This test is a quick, no-setup way to see ghosting, overshoot and motion clarity, and to compare your monitor's overdrive settings by eye.