If you’re in the market for a new display, whether it’s a smartphone, TV, or monitor, you’ll inevitably encounter the term nit. Simply put, a nit is the standard unit of measurement for luminance, which describes how much light a screen emits.
What Exactly Is a Nit?
A single nit is defined as one candela per square meter (1cd/m^2). This concept is rooted in the brightness of a standard candle. Imagine placing one candle (one candela) inside a box with an internal surface area of one square meter. The amount of light hitting the walls of that box is equivalent to one nit. Therefore, a higher nit count means the screen packs more light intensity into every square meter, resulting in a brighter display.
It’s important to understand that the screen’s physical size is irrelevant to its nit count. For instance, your smartphone likely has a much higher nit rating than your large living room TV because it concentrates a significant amount of light into a much smaller, denser area. This concentration is why a phone used in a dark movie theater can feel like a sudden, blinding flash.
Nits vs. Lumens: A Quick Distinction
The terms nits and lumens are often confused, but they measure different aspects of light. Lumens measure the total light emitted by a source in all directions, like a projector bulb or a flashlight. Nits, on the other hand, measure the surface brightness of a display—the light being projected directly toward your eyes. You can think of nits as the measure of on-screen intensity, while lumens account for overall light output.
Why Nits Are Crucial for Viewing Quality
The nit count is the single most important factor determining how well you can see your screen in different lighting conditions. More nits are ideal for brighter areas. That’s why mobile devices need more nits than desktop monitors; they are often used outdoors in sunlight. A screen with a low nit count used under bright office lights or on a sunny day will look dim, faded, and cause considerable eye strain.
Furthermore, nits are critical for modern viewing experiences, especially with High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. HDR aims to produce deep blacks and extremely bright, vivid highlights. To properly display those bright highlights and make colors truly pop, an HDR screen generally requires a minimum of 500 nits, with the best performance often achieved at 1,000 nits or more. While setting the brightness too high can drain your battery and potentially affect the device’s lifespan, having a higher nit capability is always better because it gives you the option to adjust for any environment.
How Many Nits Do You Really Need?
Choosing the right nit count depends on your use case. For devices used strictly indoors in a dark room, 200 to 300 nits is perfectly sufficient. However, for a device used in a brightly lit office or near a sunny window, you should aim for at least 500 nits, with 700 or more being better for comfortable viewing. For outdoor use, especially direct sunlight, a minimum of 800 to 1,000 nits is required to make the screen genuinely “sunlight-readable.” Most flagship smartphones today push well past 1,000 nits to support HDR content and ensure usability outside. Generally, opting for a device with more nits provides greater versatility, allowing you to dim the screen for low-light comfort while retaining the power to fight off glare when you need it most.
