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By Display Expert Team

A stuck pixel stays lit in one color: red, green, blue, or white. A dead pixel stays black on every bright color. Software is only a maybe for a stuck pixel. A dead pixel needs a return or panel replacement, and warranty rules depend on the brand and model.

Stuck Pixel vs Dead Pixel: How to Tell

The names get swapped in forums, and Dell’s own glossary does not match every buyer site. This page uses the visual test first, then maps those results onto Dell’s Display Pixel Guidelines (last modified 12 October 2026). Run the colors on the Screen Test. The longer definition sits on What is a dead pixel.

How to tell them apart

  1. Open the Screen Test in the browser on the panel you are judging. Nothing to install.
  2. Stop on solid white, then red, green, and blue. A speck that stays black on all of them is dead.
  3. Stop on solid black. A speck that stays red, green, blue, or white is stuck or hot. A soft patch larger than a pinprick is a bright spot, not a pixel — see LCD bright spots.
  4. Mark it: write the location in words and photograph the panel on the color that shows it. A desktop screenshot stays clean when the fault is only in the glass.

Wipe the glass first. Dust moves. A pixel defect does not.

Comparison

Dead pixel Stuck pixel (everyday name) Hot / bright white pixel
Appearance Black pinprick on white, red, green, and blue. Nearly invisible on black. One fixed color, easiest on black. Often a single red, green, or blue dot. White speck on black. All three subpixels stay on.
Fixability No software fix. Return window or panel replacement. Unofficial color-cycling is sometimes tried. Dell advises against that software and against pressing the glass. Same practical split as a colored stuck pixel. Dell files it with bright pixels.
Warranty implication Dark defects often have a higher allowance than bright ones. On many Dell displays, up to five dark subpixels. One dark dot is often still inside the allowance. Dell counts one colored dot as a bright subpixel. Premium Panel Exchange lists zero bright subpixels on the displays it covers. Dell calls this a stuck pixel or bright pixel. Zero allowed on the Premium Panel Exchange displays in the 12 October 2026 page.

A line of pixels is a different fault. If the mark is a streak, use green line or dead pixel line, not this table.

Everyday names and Dell’s names

On this site, stuck means the dot holds one color, and dead means it stays black. Hot means a white speck on black.

Dell’s 12 October 2026 page sorts the same dots differently:

  • Bright pixel (also called “stuck pixel”): all three subpixels permanently on. You see a white dot, especially on dark backgrounds.
  • Dark pixel (also called “dead pixel”): all three subpixels permanently off. You see a black dot on white or colored backgrounds, not on black.
  • Bright subpixel: one of red, green, or blue stuck on. A small colored dot on dark backgrounds. Many buyer sites call this a stuck pixel. Dell does not call it a full stuck pixel.
  • Dark subpixel: one subpixel stuck off. A small dark or tinted speck on white.
  • Partial subpixel: smaller than half a subpixel. Dell says this is normal manufacturing, not a defect, and that you cannot separate it from a real subpixel without magnification.

Quote Dell’s categories when you open a Dell ticket. Quote the color test when you are only trying to name the speck.

What Dell publishes

These figures are from Dell’s Display Pixel Guidelines page, last modified 12 October 2026. They are Dell’s rules for Dell hardware. They are not a policy for Apple, HP, Lenovo, or a monitor Dell did not make. The live page has the full model list, including rows this summary does not repeat.

Dell display group on that page Bright pixels or bright subpixels allowed Dark subpixels allowed
Premium Panel Exchange series Dell lists (UltraSharp, many Alienware models, Dell laptops at HD+ 1600×900 and higher, and the other series named there) 0 Up to 5. Alienware AW5520QF and AW3926QW are listed at up to 12.
Dell laptops at HD (1366×768) or lower Up to 2 Up to 5
Several monitors without Premium Panel Exchange (including SE, IN, and E-series on that page) Up to 5 Up to 5

Dell also states:

  • Premium Panel Exchange means zero tolerance for a bright pixel or bright subpixel on the displays it lists. One bright defect is enough to ask for a replacement during the warranty period (standard 1 or 3 years, or an extended warranty if you bought one).
  • Alienware AW2526HL and AW2726DL are called out separately, with up to 2 bright defects, not the zero-bright row.
  • Large-format monitors (43 inches and larger) on the standard table are listed up to 5 bright and up to 12–15 dark.
  • Normal viewing distance is about 35 to 50 cm, and about 100 to 150 cm for those large-format monitors. Dots you can only see with a magnifier are not how Dell counts a defect.
  • A dead (dark) pixel cannot be fixed. Dell’s words: no software or other method brings it back. The hardware path is panel replacement.
  • For stuck (bright) pixels and subpixels, Dell says not to run pixel-fix software and not to press on the screen. Dell states that those methods can damage the display, may void the warranty, and are not officially supported.
  • A monitor bought at Best Buy in the USA, if it is UltraSharp, Professional, or Alienware, can be exchanged at Best Buy with the original receipt. That instruction is on Dell’s page.

If the retailer return window is still open, that route does not depend on clearing Dell’s pixel table. Document the colors, then use the window.

What we don't know

We have not lab-tested your panel, and we do not publish a failure rate for a specific laptop or monitor model. We do not know whether your return window is open, what your Service Tag still covers, or how a local consumer-law claim would land.

We have not measured color-cycling software, so this page does not quote a success rate. Reports that a stuck pixel “came back” are anecdotes.

The Dell numbers above are one public page as of 12 October 2026. Dell can edit that page. Other manufacturers are not restated here, because copying a second-hand summary would invent a policy.

Screen Issues writes guides and ships a browser test. It is not a repair shop, and it does not inspect the unit in front of you.

Sources

  • Dell, Display Pixel Guidelines, support article 000126004, last modified 12 October 2026. Definitions, Premium Panel Exchange scope, the allowance tables, the viewing-distance note, and the warning against pixel-fix software and pressure.
  • ISO, ISO 13406-2:2001, withdrawn. The replacement is the ISO 9241-307 series. There is no single current worldwide pixel budget to cite in place of a brand’s own table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Looking for Related Solutions?

A stuck pixel holds one color. A dead pixel stays black. The screen test runs the colors; the dead-pixel guide covers clusters and documentation. A soft glow belongs with bright spots, and a streak belongs with line guides.