Screen Tearing Test.
Fast-scrolling patterns that expose screen tearing — the horizontal break where a new frame arrives mid-refresh. Watch the stripes jump sideways, then confirm VSync/FreeSync fixes it.
How the screen tearing test works
Your display redraws top-to-bottom many times a second. If the graphics card swaps to a new frame partway through that redraw, the top of the screen keeps the old frame and the bottom gets the new one — a visible horizontal seam. A fast, uniform scrolling pattern turns that seam into an obvious sideways jump in the stripes.
- 1. Go full screen. Tearing is easiest to see across the whole panel with a steady, fast scroll.
- 2. Raise the speed. Faster motion makes any tear line more obvious; the speed-bands mode shows several rates at once.
- 3. Spot the seam. Look for a horizontal line where the vertical stripes don't line up — it may sit still or drift up/down.
- 4. Toggle VSync / VRR. Turn on VSync or FreeSync/G-SYNC and re-run — the tearing should vanish, confirming your setup can control it.
What your results mean
Where and when the tear line shows up points to whether your frame rate, VSync or VRR settings are the cause.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Stripes scroll smoothly with no break in alignment | Frames are synced to the refresh rate — no tearing | Nothing to do. |
| A horizontal line where the stripes suddenly jump sideways | Screen tearing — a new frame arrived mid-refresh | Turn on VSync, or better FreeSync / G-SYNC / VRR. |
| The tear line drifts up or down the screen | Frame rate doesn't match the refresh rate — classic VSync-off tearing | Enable VSync in the game or GPU control panel. |
| Tearing shows in some speed bands but not others | Frame delivery is only out of sync at certain rates | Turn on FreeSync / G-SYNC — it syncs across the whole range instead of one fixed rate. |
| Tearing disappears once VSync or VRR is switched on | Confirms your setup can control it | Leave VSync/VRR enabled; prefer VRR over plain VSync if input lag bothers you. |
Frequently asked questions
What is screen tearing?
Screen tearing is a horizontal split or misalignment in a moving image, where the top part of the screen shows one frame and the bottom shows the next. It happens when your graphics card sends a new frame to the display in the middle of the display drawing the previous one — so two frames appear stitched together. It is most visible in games and fast-scrolling content when frame delivery is not synchronised to the refresh rate.
How do I test for screen tearing?
Launch the test full screen and watch the fast-scrolling stripes. Tearing appears as one or more horizontal lines where the vertical stripes suddenly jump sideways, breaking their alignment. Use the speed control and the five speed-bands mode — tearing often shows up at some speeds and not others. A single wandering tear line that moves up or down the screen is the classic sign of VSync being off.
What causes screen tearing and how do I fix it?
It is caused by the frame rate being out of sync with the refresh rate. The fixes: turn on VSync in your game or GPU control panel, which caps frames to the refresh rate; or better, use a variable-refresh-rate technology — NVIDIA G-SYNC, AMD FreeSync or HDMI VRR — which syncs the display to the GPU instead and eliminates tearing without the input lag VSync can add. Make sure VRR is enabled both in your monitor's menu and in your GPU driver.
Is a little screen tearing normal?
On a fixed-refresh display with VSync off, some tearing is expected — it is a timing artefact, not a fault. Whether it bothers you is personal: some people never notice it, others find it very distracting. If you see tearing in this browser test with VSync/VRR off, that is normal behaviour; enabling VSync or FreeSync/G-SYNC should make it disappear, which confirms your setup can control it.
Why does tearing appear in the browser but not in games?
Browsers usually composite with VSync on, so a plain web page rarely tears — but a deliberately fast, full-screen scrolling pattern like this one can still reveal it, especially if VRR is active or your compositor drops VSync under load. If your games tear but this test does not, the tearing is game-side: check that game's VSync/VRR settings. If both tear, look at your global GPU and monitor VRR settings.