OLED Lights Each Pixel; Mini-LED Lights an LCD Behind It

An OLED TV makes light in each pixel and can switch each one off; a Mini-LED TV is an LCD lit from behind by many small LEDs, dimmed in zones. That is why the makers who sell both describe OLED as the one for black level and dark rooms and Mini-LED as the brighter one, and why burn-in is an OLED question and halo a Mini-LED one.

Everything below is the makers’ own description, read on their US pages on 9 October 2026. We have not measured any set.

How each one makes light

OLED. LG describes “self-emitting pixels made of organic compounds that light up when an electric current passes through them”, each turning “on or off independently… without the need for a backlight”. Samsung’s OLED guide says the same: each pixel “can turn off completely”. A black pixel is a switched-off pixel.

Mini-LED. The picture is still made by an LCD. TCL, which says it introduced the first Mini-LED TV in 2019, explains that an LED TV “uses an LCD panel, and LEDs function as the backlight… shining through the LCD panel”. Mini-LEDs are smaller diodes, around 0.2 millimetres or less, so a set can carry many more of them, which TCL says reaches “upwards of 25,000” on some models against “maybe a few hundred” on a conventional backlight. Groups of them dim and brighten together: TCL calls these “Contrast Control Zones”, also known as local dimming. Sony’s spec sheets put it plainly, listing the BRAVIA 9 (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab) and BRAVIA 7 as display type “LCD” with a “Mini LED (QLED)” backlight.

What that changes, property by property

	OLED, as makers describe it	Mini-LED, as makers describe it
Light source	Each pixel lights itself; no backlight (LG, Samsung)	LEDs behind an LCD, dimmed in zones (TCL, Samsung, Sony)
Black level	Pixels “turn off completely to deliver perfect black” (LG)	Local dimming lets “the blackest-blacks and whitest-whites” share the screen (TCL)
Halo around bright objects	No backlight zones to spill	TCL markets a “Halo Control System”; zone counts vary by model
Peak brightness	Samsung claims “high peak brightness” for its OLEDs	LG says QNED evo “excels in peak brightness”; Samsung points well-lit rooms to Neo QLED
Viewing angle	Wide, from self-emission (LG, Samsung, Samsung Display)	A per-model feature: Sony lists it on the BRAVIA 9 (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab), not the BRAVIA 7
Burn-in	Static images can cause it (LG, Samsung, Sony)	LG sells QNED evo on “durability” for “extended daily use”

Black level and halo come from the same fact. Samsung Display, which makes QD-OLED panels, says an LCD’s backlight “is always on”, which limits how black a pixel can get, while an OLED pixel’s light source can simply be switched off. Local dimming is the LCD’s answer, and halo is its cost: a zone is far larger than a pixel, so a star on a black sky lights its whole zone, and whatever the LCD fails to block shows as a glow. TCL itself calls this “the halo problem” and sells lens and algorithm work against it.

Zone counts are where Mini-LED sets differ most. TCL’s QM6K (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab) lists “up to 500 dimming zones”, while the QM9K in the same range lists up to 6,000, and LG warns that its Mini-LED “Dimming Zones may vary by inches, models and region”. Two TVs sold as Mini-LED can have very different backlights, and makers often do not publish the count at all, as our guide to what separates a $400 TV from a $1,200 one found.

Brightness and glare cut the other way. Where one maker sells both, it places Mini-LED as the brighter: LG pitches QNED evo at “bright environments”, and Samsung says to choose Neo QLED “if you prefer brighter screens… particularly for well-lit rooms”. Samsung also concedes that OLED TVs “can be more prone to glare due to their glossy screens”, which it addresses with an anti-glare finish on its S95F.

The spec-sheet names, as their makers define them

• WOLED (LG’s OLEDs and some others): LG Display stacks red, green and blue light sources “to produce pure white light”, then uses red, green, blue and white sub-pixels.
• QD-OLED: Samsung Display uses a blue self-emitting layer and a quantum-dot layer that converts it to colour; it is still self-emissive, with no backlight. Tom’s Guide reports that Samsung’s S90F uses one or the other depending on screen size, which is why the reviewed size matters on our best-TVs shortlist.
• QLED: Samsung’s term for a backlit LCD “combined with quantum dot technology”. It does not by itself mean Mini-LED.
• Neo QLED: Samsung’s Mini-LED LCD, a backlight of “tiny mini-LEDs” with quantum dots and local dimming zones.
• QNED: LG’s “proprietary display technology that utilizes Mini-LED enhancement”; LG’s own FAQ calls QNED the high-end line of its “premium LCD TV brand”.
• QD-Mini LED: TCL’s name for its Mini-LED backlight with quantum dots.

Burn-in, and what the warranties say

The makers agree on the cause. LG says burn-in is “possible on virtually any display” but usually follows static elements left on screen “for many hours or days”, often at peak brightness, naming news-channel logos, paused games and vivid mode. Sony’s OLED article adds letterboxed or 4:3 content, game HUDs, on-screen tickers and Multi-View.

Both build in defences. LG runs a screen saver after about two minutes of inactivity, which cannot be turned off, a refresh after every four hours of cumulative use, and a full Pixel Refresher after 2,000 hours that takes about an hour once the set is off and stops if you turn it back on. Sony lists Panel refresh, Pixel shift, a screen saver and automatic brightness reduction.

The warranties are less clear than the advice. None of the three makers’ US warranty pages we read promises to cover burn-in on a current OLED TV.

• LG: its US limited warranty for “LCD / LED / OLED” televisions runs one year for parts and labor and does not mention burn-in, either way. LG’s OLED page footnotes a five-year panel warranty, panel-only after year one, but only for listed G2, G3 and Z2 models.
• Samsung: its US limited warranty terms do not name burn-in, and they exclude damage “caused by brightness related to normal aging” and by “commercial or non-normal consumer use”. Samsung’s QLED comparison page still carries a burn-in guarantee, but it covers 2017 QLED TVs, which are LCDs.
• Sony: its general image-retention article says “Image retention issues are not covered by Sony® warranty”. That article was last modified in 2019 and lists CRT and plasma sets, not OLED; Sony’s current OLED article does not mention the warranty at all.

So ask for the warranty for the exact model before you pay, and if a store offers an extended plan, the FTC’s test for an extended warranty is whether it covers more than the one already included. Burn-in is a reasonable thing to ask it to name.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between OLED and Mini-LED?

An OLED TV has no backlight: each pixel makes its own light and can switch fully off. A Mini-LED TV is an LCD lit from behind by many small LEDs, dimmed in zones. Makers describe OLED as stronger on black level and viewing angle, and Mini-LED as brighter.

Do Mini-LED TVs get burn-in?

Burn-in is the risk makers attach to OLED. LG says image retention is possible on virtually any display, but sells its QNED Mini-LED sets on durability for extended daily use, and a 2019 Sony support article says its BRAVIA sets, then LCDs, are not subject to permanent image retention.

Is OLED burn-in covered by warranty?

Not that we could find in writing. LG’s US television warranty runs one year and does not mention burn-in; Samsung’s US terms do not name it; Sony’s only statement we found, from 2019, says image retention is not covered. Ask for the warranty for the exact model before you buy.

What is blooming or halo on a Mini-LED TV?

A glow around bright objects on a dark background. Each dimming zone is larger than a pixel, so a lit zone spills light the LCD does not fully block. TCL markets a “Halo Control System” against it, and zone counts vary widely between models.

Is QLED the same as Mini-LED?

No. Samsung defines QLED as a backlight combined with quantum dots, and Neo QLED as a backlight of tiny mini-LEDs with quantum dots and local dimming. Both are LCDs. LG’s QNED evo and TCL’s QD-Mini LED are Mini-LED LCDs under other names.

What is the difference between WOLED and QD-OLED?

Both are OLED. LG Display’s WOLED stacks red, green and blue layers to make white light and uses red, green, blue and white sub-pixels. Samsung Display’s QD-OLED uses a blue light source with a quantum-dot layer that turns it into red and green.