Screen Tearing Test – Check VSync & Frame Sync
This screen tearing test makes it easy to see whether your display and graphics card are staying in sync. Tearing is the ragged horizontal line — sometimes several at once — that splits a moving image so the top and bottom of the screen show two different moments. It appears when the graphics card sends a new frame to the display in the middle of a refresh, so the monitor draws part of the old frame and part of the new one in a single pass. The test sweeps a bold, high-contrast pattern across the screen; if your setup tears, the crisp vertical edges break into offset horizontal steps that slide up or down.
Speed
Band width
Tearing is not a fault in the panel itself. It is a timing mismatch between how often your system produces frames and how often the screen refreshes. Understanding that relationship is the key to removing it.
How to use the screen tearing test
The pattern moves as soon as the page loads. For the clearest reading:
- Go fullscreen. Tearing is easiest to spot when the moving pattern fills the whole display.
- Watch the vertical edges. Follow where black meets white as the bands travel. A perfectly synced display keeps every edge straight from top to bottom.
- Look for the split. If one or more horizontal lines cut across, offsetting the edge left or right above and below them, that is tearing. The lines often drift vertically.
- Raise the speed. Faster motion widens the offset at each tear and makes it more obvious.
One important caveat: most browsers composite their output with VSync already on, so a plain browser page often will not tear even when a game would. If you see no tearing here, that is a good sign, but the definitive test for a game is to run it with VSync off and a frame rate different from your refresh rate.
Why screen tearing happens
A display refreshes on a fixed heartbeat — 60, 120, or 144 times a second. Your graphics card renders frames on its own schedule, which rarely lines up with that heartbeat. When a fresh frame arrives partway through a refresh, the monitor swaps to it mid-draw, and the boundary between the two frames is the tear.
The mismatch is worst when the frame rate is high and unsynchronised. At 200 FPS on a 60 Hz screen, several new frames land during every refresh, producing multiple tears at once. Capping or synchronising the frame rate is what removes them. To see how your output and your screen's refresh compare, measure them on the main FPS test and confirm the refresh rate with our refresh rate guide.
How to stop screen tearing
There are three broad ways to keep frames aligned with the refresh, each with trade-offs.
VSync
VSync holds each finished frame until the display is ready for it, eliminating tearing completely. The cost is that if the frame rate drops below the refresh rate, VSync can add input lag and cause its own stutter as it waits for the next refresh. It is the simplest fix and fine for video and slower games.
Variable refresh rate (G-Sync and FreeSync)
A variable refresh rate display changes its own refresh timing to match the graphics card frame by frame. Within its supported range, this removes tearing without the lag penalty of VSync, which is why it is the preferred solution for gaming. Tearing can return if the frame rate climbs above the display's maximum, so many players pair it with a frame rate cap a few frames below the ceiling.
Frame rate caps and fast sync
Capping the frame rate near the refresh rate reduces how often frames arrive out of step. Modern drivers also offer low-lag sync modes that tear only when the frame rate is above the refresh rate and behave like VSync below it. These are useful when a variable refresh rate is not available.
Tearing, stutter, and frame skipping are different problems
Motion can look wrong for several reasons, and they have separate fixes:
| Symptom | What you see | Root cause |
|---|---|---|
| Tearing | Horizontal split offsetting the image | Frames unsynced with the refresh |
| Stutter | An even image that hitches in time | Late or dropped frames in rendering |
| Frame skipping | Motion that looks a touch rough with no tear | The panel failing to draw every frame |
If the edges here stay straight but motion still feels off, the issue is timing rather than tearing — measure it with the stutter test, or check the panel itself with the frame skipping test.
Does tearing hurt performance or just looks?
Tearing does not lower your frame rate; it is purely a visual artefact of unsynced frames. In fact, letting frames tear is the lowest-latency way to play, which is why some competitive players tolerate a little tearing rather than add the input lag of VSync. For everyone else, a variable refresh rate gives the clean image without the lag. How much any of this matters depends on the game — our guide to frames per second in gaming covers where the balance lies, and our overview of what frame rate is explains the underlying numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't I see tearing in my browser?
Because browsers usually composite with VSync on, so their output is already aligned to the refresh. This test still helps you learn what a tear looks like and check for tearing in fullscreen or on a variable refresh rate display that is out of range.
Is tearing a sign my monitor is broken?
No. Tearing is a timing mismatch between the graphics card and the display, not a hardware defect. Turning on VSync or a variable refresh rate removes it.
Should I use VSync or G-Sync / FreeSync?
If your display supports a variable refresh rate, use it — it removes tearing without the lag of VSync. Reserve plain VSync for displays without that feature, or for video where latency does not matter.
Can a variable refresh rate still tear?
Yes, if the frame rate rises above the display's maximum refresh rate. Capping the frame rate a few frames below the ceiling keeps everything inside the tear-free range.
How tearing looks at different frame rates
The number of tears on screen at once follows directly from how many frames arrive during a single refresh. When the frame rate is close to the refresh rate, you tend to see a single tear line drifting slowly up or down the screen. When the frame rate is far higher — say 200 FPS on a 60 Hz panel — several frames land in each refresh and you see multiple tear lines at the same time, often appearing to shimmer. When the frame rate is well below the refresh rate, tears are fewer but each one lingers longer. Watching how the tear behaves as you change the speed on this test mirrors what happens as your game's frame rate rises and falls.
Tearing on consoles, TVs, and video
Tearing is not only a computer problem. Game consoles that render without synchronisation tear in exactly the same way, which is why console games often ship with a VSync or variable-refresh option. Films and video, on the other hand, rarely tear, because video players buffer frames and present them on the refresh. If you see tearing while watching video, the cause is usually a media player with VSync disabled or a mismatched refresh rate rather than the video itself.
Low framerate compensation keeps VRR working
Variable refresh rate displays have a lowest supported refresh rate, and below it the technology would stop working. Modern implementations solve this with low framerate compensation, which repeats frames to keep the display inside its working range when the frame rate dips. This is why a good variable refresh rate setup stays tear-free and smooth even in demanding scenes where the frame rate falls. When you shop for a display, a wide variable-refresh range with this compensation matters more than a headline maximum number. Whichever route you take, the goal is the same: one whole frame per refresh, cleanly aligned.
A quick way to confirm your own setup is to run a demanding game with the frame counter visible, push the frame rate above and then below your refresh rate, and watch for the split. If a variable refresh rate is doing its job, the image stays whole across that entire range up to its ceiling. If you only ever see tearing above the ceiling, a frame rate cap a few frames below it is the last piece of the puzzle. Bring what you learn here back to that game, and the ragged line you trained your eye on will be easy to recognise or, better, absent.
Related display and motion tests
Frame alignment is one part of clean motion. Continue with these companion tools:
- Frame Rate Test (FPS test) — measure your live frame rate and refresh rate.
- Motion Blur Test — see how much your screen smears moving detail.
- Frame Skipping Test — check whether the panel draws every frame.
- Stutter Test — measure frame-time consistency in software.
- Scrolling Smoothness Test — judge everyday scrolling jank in your browser.