Refresh Rate
Refresh Rate
The number of times per second a display redraws the screen.
In Simple Terms
Refresh rate is the number of times per second a TV or smartphone screen can redraw its image. For example, "60 Hz" means the screen redraws 60 times every second. As long as the frame rate is high enough, a higher number here means fast-moving game characters or scrolling text look smoother and less blurry. It's a common performance benchmark for gaming monitors.
Behind the Name
The name comes from combining "refresh" — to renew or start fresh — with "rate," meaning how often something happens. Put together, they describe how many times per second a screen renews itself with a new image.
Take a Closer Look!
Refresh rate is a number that shows how many times per second a computer monitor or smartphone screen redraws (updates) its image. Even if the same image stays on screen the whole time, each redraw still counts toward this number.
It's measured in "Hz" (hertz) — for example, 120Hz means the screen redraws itself 120 times every second.
To put it simply, it's like flipping through a flip-book at a certain speed.
But no matter how fast you flip the pages (the refresh rate), if there aren't enough pages actually drawn to begin with — meaning the number of images sent out by a computer or game console (the frame rate) — you'll just end up flipping through the same page over and over, and the motion won't look smooth.
Only when both the number of screen redraws and the number of images being sent are high enough can fast-moving video or game footage be displayed smoothly.
Common values include 60Hz, 144Hz, and 240Hz — the higher the number, the more times per second the screen redraws.
As long as the frame rate is high enough too, images become less prone to blurring even during fast motion, and fast movement can be displayed clearly.