One Monitor Is Brighter or Darker Than the Other? Here's How to Fix It

Even when using two identical monitors, one screen might look slightly brighter or darker, despite having the same settings. This usually comes down to panel variations or small calibration differences, not a hardware issue. Adjusting the right brightness settings on your second monitor can fix it. Here’s how you can calibrate both displays and fix mismatched screen output quickly.

Why is one of my monitors brighter than the other?

• The age difference between monitors often affects their similarity. When a monitor is older than the other one, it may also be slightly less bright.
• Keep in mind that the latest laptop monitors often sacrifice color reproduction for lightweight functionality.
• Any differences in wall color or furniture color have a high impact on the light that’s arriving at the monitor. Try to compare your dual monitors under similar lighting conditions.
• Finally, keep in mind that it’s hardly impossible to match two screens from different monitor models, manufacturers, and panel technologies as far as color is concerned.

How do I fix the brightness on my second monitor?

1. Manually adjust the difference

As said before, if it isn’t happening to a professional monitor that comes with colors calibrated, you’re most likely experiencing a variation in production.

In this case, you will need to give a boost to your monitors to match each other.

That’s why we recommend manually adjusting the difference.

You could adjust Gamma/ Brightness and even color correction, either in Windows settings, monitor settings, or the Graphics card Settings Panel.

2. Calibrate display via Color Management

1. Just search for Color Management in the search box.
2. Then follow the wizard to set up both your monitors.
3. You need to do the same with both screens.

There is also a Color Management option in Windows which may help you out. With it, you can accurately calibrate your display colors.

Color Management lets you check the proper brightness, contrast, etc. based on the monitor, so give it a try as well and let us know if it works.

3. Use the same color profile when dual monitor colors are not matching

1. Go to Color Management again.
2. Once it opens, select a monitor, and check the box that says Use my settings for this device.
3. Click the Add button, then choose a color profile.

You’ve done your best, but it seems that you just can’t reconcile the differences easily. Remember that all monitors use the System’s default color profile.

If you think that the Color profile is the culprit, change the color profile as well. Do the same with the second monitor and check whether it fixes the problem or not.

Read more about this topic

• 10 Best Screen Brightness Software to Use on Windows 10 & 11
• 7 Ways to Fix a Monitor that Keeps Changing Its Brightness
• Why is my Screen so Dark on Full Brightness: 6 Fixes to use
• 6 Simple Ways to Fix Windows 11’s Screen Dimming Issues

4. Use the same type of ports to connect the monitors

If you use different ports (DVI, VGA, HDMI) to connect your dual monitors, you may get high or low color depth and different brightness levels. Stop using the VGA port to fix this.

Instead, use either DVI or HDMI port to connect both monitors and see if you notice any improvement. Have a look at these high-speed HDMI cables while you’re at it and pick the one that best suits your needs.

Following the above tricks can bring your dual monitors as close to the brightness and color ideal as technology makes it possible these days.

If you are lucky enough, you may be pleased with the result. Nevertheless, sometimes the differences may still exist even after trying all these methods.