One thing that is important to stress is that frame rate is not determined by the monitor itself. Essentially, the higher the frame rate, the more frames are displayed per second and that then results in smoother, more realistic movement, as opposed to more staggered or stuttered movement. It is usually expressed as frames per second, or fps for short. With this in mind, frame rate is the rate at which new frames are displayed. Of course, these individual frames change many times per second, but the premise is similar to a flipbook animation. Movement on a monitor is shown by displaying a number of consecutive still images, which are called ‘frames’ and this is true regardless of whether the movement being displayed is a film, a television show, a video game, or a mouse cursor moving on a computer screen. Frame Rate: A Definitionįirst, it is helpful to provide a basic definition of frame rate. In this article, we will offer definitions of both frame rate and refresh rate to help you understand the concepts, along with an explanation of how the two combine to create the image quality you actually see on your monitor. Keep reading for a detailed breakdown of the difference between these concepts.įrame rate and refresh rate are terms you are likely to encounter when exploring computer monitor options and while the topic of frame rate vs refresh rate has been briefly covered in a previous article in the ViewSonic library, it is important to explore these two concepts in more detail and fully explain how they differ from one another. This can, in turn, make the search for a quality monitor more confusing than it actually needs to be. Essentially, these two common terms describe a similar concept, which can make it difficult to fully understand how they actually differ from one another.

One of the biggest problems for people searching for a high-quality monitor is the frame rate vs refresh rate issue.

Refresh rate of my optiquest monitor