Black level

Video black level is defined as the level of brightness at the darkest (black) part of a visual image or the level of brightness at which no light is emitted from a screen, resulting in a pure black screen.

Video displays generally need to be calibrated so that the displayed black is true to the black information in the video signal. If the black level is not correctly adjusted, visual information in a video signal could be displayed as black, or black information could be displayed as above black information (gray).