Refresh Rate Test

This refresh rate test measures how many times per second your screen draws a new picture. It times every animation frame your browser shows, takes the middle value and snaps it to the nearest real rate, such as 60, 120, 144 or 240 Hz, with the exact figure underneath. The graph shows the time between frames, so a dropped frame stands out as a spike. It works as a monitor refresh rate test on any desktop screen, and on laptops, TVs, tablets and phones, on Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux, Android and iPhone.

How to check your refresh rate

1. Keep this tab in front and leave the mouse still. The reading appears after about two seconds.
2. Pick the rate printed on your monitor's box or spec sheet in My screen is rated for. The test tells you when the screen runs slower than it should.
3. Let it run for 10 to 30 seconds. The exact value settles to two decimal places and the dropped frame count fills in.
4. To test a second monitor, drag this window onto it. The test notices the new screen and measures again.
5. After you change a setting or a cable, press Measure again. Your earlier results are listed under the readouts so you can compare.
6. Press Copy results to paste the numbers into a support ticket or a forum post.

What the results mean

Each refresh rate has a matching frame time: 16.67 ms at 60 Hz, 8.33 ms at 120 Hz, 6.94 ms at 144 Hz, 4.17 ms at 240 Hz and 2.78 ms at 360 Hz. A flat green line at that height means steady frames.

A 144 Hz monitor only shows 60 Hz

This is the most common problem the test finds. Work through the causes in this order:

1. The setting was never changed. Windows and macOS often start a new monitor at 60 Hz. Set the rate by hand using the steps below.
2. The cable or port cannot carry it. Most monitors limit HDMI 1.4 to 120 Hz at 1080p and to 60 or 75 Hz at 1440p. Many monitors only reach their top rate on DisplayPort or their HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 ports. Use the DisplayPort cable from the box and check the manual for each port's top rate.
3. An adapter, dock or USB-C hub sits in the path. Most adapters and many docks cap the signal at 60 Hz. Connect the monitor straight to the computer to test.
4. The cable is in the wrong socket. On a desktop with a graphics card, plug the monitor into the card, not the video ports on the motherboard.
5. The graphics driver is missing. If Device Manager lists Microsoft Basic Display Adapter under Display adapters, install the driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel.
6. The monitor's own menu limits it. Some models need an overclock option turned on to reach their top rate, and some ship with an old DisplayPort mode selected.
7. A laptop drops to 60 Hz on battery. Many gaming laptops switch the panel to 60 Hz to save power. Plug in, and check the maker's control app and the power mode.

Set the refresh rate on Windows 11 and 10

On Windows 11, open Settings, System, Display, Advanced display and pick a rate in Choose a refresh rate. On Windows 10 the list is under Settings, System, Display, Advanced display settings. With several monitors, select the right one at the top of the page first. NVIDIA Control Panel also has it under Display, Change resolution.

Set the refresh rate on a Mac

Open System Settings, then Displays, select the display and choose a value in Refresh Rate. MacBook Pro models with a ProMotion screen offer ProMotion, which moves between low rates and 120 Hz as needed. If an external monitor offers no high rates, the cable, the adapter or the Mac's port is the limit.

Set the refresh rate on iPhone and Android

iPhones with ProMotion pick the rate on their own, up to 120 Hz. Low Power Mode and Settings, Accessibility, Motion, Limit Frame Rate both hold the screen to 60 Hz. On Samsung Galaxy phones, open Settings, Display, Motion smoothness and choose Adaptive. On Pixel phones, turn on Smooth Display in Settings, Display & touch. Power saving modes on Android also drop the screen to 60 Hz.

The reading is 30 Hz or lower than expected

When the screen settings are right but the test still reads low, something is limiting the browser:

• Battery savers. Chrome's Energy saver, found in Chrome settings under Performance, lowers the frame rate of animations when it is on. Plug in or turn it off, then measure again.
• Safari's 60 frame limit. Safari can hold web pages to 60 frames per second even on a 120 Hz iPhone, iPad or MacBook Pro. On iPhone, open Settings, Safari (under Apps on newer versions), Advanced, Feature Flags and turn off Prefer Page Rendering Updates near 60fps, then close and reopen Safari. On a Mac, the same switch is in Safari's Feature Flags tab, which appears after you tick Show features for web developers in Settings, Advanced.
• Half your rate. A reading of 72 on a 144 Hz monitor means the browser is drawing every second frame. Close heavy apps and other tabs, and check that hardware acceleration is turned on in the browser settings.
• Remote desktop and virtual machines. These stream the screen at their own rate, so the reading describes the stream, not the monitor.

Dropped frames and a spiky graph

A few dropped frames when a page loads or an app opens are normal. Steady spikes mean something takes the processor or graphics card away from the browser: a game or video export in the background, many open tabs, RGB lighting or monitoring apps, or a computer that runs too hot. Close them one at a time and watch the graph. A screen that flickers while the graph stays flat has a different problem, covered in our guide to screen flickering.

Variable refresh rate: G-Sync, FreeSync and adaptive phones

G-Sync on NVIDIA cards and FreeSync on AMD cards let the monitor wait for each new frame from a game instead of refreshing on a fixed clock, which removes tearing and most stutter when a game runs below the refresh rate. Turn it on in the monitor's menu first, then in NVIDIA Control Panel under Set up G-SYNC, or in AMD Software under Gaming, Display. A browser window usually draws at the screen's top rate, so this test shows the maximum even with variable refresh on. Phones and laptops with adaptive refresh slow down when nothing moves, but this test keeps an animation running, so it reads the top rate the browser gets. To see tearing and stutter with sync off, use the screen tearing test.

What a browser refresh rate test cannot tell you

The test reads the rate the browser is drawing at. It cannot read the highest rate your monitor supports, its variable refresh range, or whether an overclocked monitor skips frames, which needs a camera and the frame skipping check on the 144hz monitor test. It does not measure the delay between your mouse and the screen either; the input lag test covers that. To see what your refresh rate does for motion, compare frame rates side by side on the ufo test, or check the pixel count of your display with the screen resolution test.

Refresh rate questions