Black Screen fills your whole display with pure black (#000000) when you click Start full screen. Switch to white, gray, red, green, blue or any custom color, set a timer of up to 12 hours, hide the mouse pointer and keep the screen awake so it does not dim or lock. Press Esc to exit. Like all ghacks tools, it runs in your browser.
Screen went black on its own? That is a display, driver or app fault this tool cannot fix. Start here:
- Windows 11 black screen after sign-in
- Chrome shows only a black page
- YouTube video goes black
- Twitch stream stays black
How to use the black screen
Choose a color, optionally set a timer, then click Start full screen or press Enter; press Esc to return.
- Under Color, pick Black (the default), White, Gray, Red, Green, Blue, or Custom with the color picker.
- Under Timer, keep Off or choose 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, 8 hours, or Custom for 1 to 720 minutes.
- Under When the timer ends, choose Return to this page or Stay full screen and let the device sleep, which hands control back to your system's sleep settings.
- Under Mouse pointer, keep Hide after 2 seconds without movement or choose Always hide. Leave Keep screen awake checked.
- Click Start full screen. Press Esc, double-click or double-tap to exit; a single tap does nothing, so you can wipe the screen.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter or F | Start |
| Esc | Exit |
| 1 to 6 | Switch color: Black, White, Gray, Red, Green, Blue |
| Space | Show or hide the pointer |
| T | Show or hide remaining time (not on black) |
The status line shows whether keep-awake is active, not supported or refused. Color keys accept at most three changes per second, a flash guard based on WCAG success criterion 2.3.1, so the screen cannot strobe. A white or red screen at full brightness can be harsh in a dark room; lower the brightness first.
What people use a black screen for
Most uses fall into five groups.
| Use | Color | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning the screen | Black for dust, then White for streaks | Timer off |
| Darkening a second monitor | Black | Always hide the pointer |
| Checking for dead pixels and backlight bleed | Black, then keys 2 to 6 | Dark room, timer off |
| Resting an OLED panel during a break | Black | Timer with Stay full screen and let the device sleep |
| Focus or sleep | Black or a dim custom color | Timer |
A dot that stays lit on black is a stuck pixel; a dot that stays dark on white is a dead pixel.
Black screen or turn the display off?
Use a black screen when the display has to stay on and unlocked, for example on a second monitor or while cleaning; turn the display off when you only want darkness, because that saves more power.
Windows 11
Windows 11 has no default shortcut that turns off only the display; Win+L locks the PC but leaves the screen on for a while. In Control Panel, Power Options, Choose what the power buttons do, set the power button to Turn off the display where your device offers it, or set a short screen timeout under Settings, System, Power & battery.
macOS
Press Control+Shift+Power (Control+Shift+Media Eject on older keyboards) to put the display to sleep. You can also set a hot corner under System Settings, Desktop & Dock, Hot Corners, to Put Display to Sleep.
Linux, Android and iPhone
On GNOME, set Screen Blank under Settings, Power; on KDE Plasma, use Power Management. On Android and iPhone, press the side or power button once.
Does a black screen save power?
It depends on the panel. OLED pixels make their own light, and a black OLED pixel is switched off, so black draws less than white. An LCD is lit from behind across the whole panel; black only blocks that light, so the backlight keeps drawing power. Turning the display off saves more than a black screen on both types.
Will a black screen prevent OLED burn-in?
A black screen rests OLED pixels, so it adds no wear while shown, but it cannot remove burn-in that already exists. Burn-in is uneven pixel wear from static content such as taskbars or logos. Many OLED TVs and monitors run a pixel refresh routine in standby, so for long breaks, turning the display off or a timer with Stay full screen and let the device sleep is the better choice.
Browser and device support
Black Screen works in current browsers; full screen and keep-awake depend on the device.
- Full screen uses the Fullscreen API and covers the monitor the window is on. iPhone Safari does not allow it for web pages, so the color fills the browser window and the tool says so; adding the page to your Home Screen hides the browser bars.
- When the page is embedded in another site, full screen is blocked and the tool offers Open the tool in a new tab.
- Keep screen awake uses the Screen Wake Lock API. It needs an HTTPS page and a visible tab, pauses when you switch tabs and resumes when you return; battery saver or low power mode can refuse it.
Privacy
Nothing leaves your browser. Black Screen makes no network requests, uses no camera or screen access and sets no cookies. Your last color, timer and pointer choices are stored only in this browser (localStorage); Reset settings clears them, and the tool still works when storage is blocked.
FAQ
How do I exit the black screen?
Press Esc, double-click anywhere, or double-tap on a touchscreen; a single tap is ignored on purpose, so cleaning does not close it. Leaving full screen the usual way, such as F11 on Windows and Linux or a swipe on a phone, also works. The session then stops and keep-awake is released.
Why does my screen still turn off after a while?
Keep-awake was not active. Check the status line under the button: the browser may not support it, battery saver or low power mode may have refused it, or the tab was hidden. If you chose Stay full screen and let the device sleep, keep-awake ends with the timer on purpose and your system's screen timeout applies.
Is it true black?
Yes. Black is #000000, the color value RGB 0, 0, 0. On an OLED screen those pixels are off, so the panel looks fully dark. On an LCD a faint, even glow is normal, because the backlight stays on behind the black. Brighter patches at the edges or corners are backlight bleed.
Can I use it on two monitors?
Full screen covers the monitor the browser window is on, so move the window to the monitor you want dark before you click Start full screen. To blank or dim several monitors from one app, blank one monitor at a time with Multiscreen Blank, a free Windows tool.