Windows 11 Change Display Brightness with 9 methods

This post will show you how to change the display brightness in Windows 11 using one of the available nine methods. You may need to occasionally adjust the brightness level of your monitor or built-in display. All portable devices allow changing the brightness level, and some external screens too.

You may want to increase the screen brightness level if you use your laptop outdoors when it sunny. In a dark room, you might want to dim the screen backlight to reduce the eye strain.

However, keep the following in mind. A brighter screen uses more power that drains the device battery. A lower brightness extends the battery life, but often makes the screen harder to read. Always try find an optimal value between these two cases.

As mentioned above, all laptop and tablet displays include the adjustable screen backlight feature. However, not all external monitors support changing display brightness programmatically. While all of them have a brightness control in the menu, the software method is relatively a rare thing.

This post will show you nine different ways to adjust the brightness level of a display in Windows 11, and a few extra tips.

Change Display Brightness in Windows 11

Windows 11 offers several different ways to quickly adjust screen brightness, including Night Light, which reduces the amount of blue light on the screen to reduce eye strain and help you fall asleep. You can use Settings, a keyboard shortcut, Quick Settings panel, PowerShell, OSD settings, Command Prompt, Windows Mobility Center, and a set of external apps like driver tools and specially designed software.

Change Display Brightness in Settings

1. Open the Settings app by pressing the Win + I keyboard shortcut, or click on its gear icon in the Start menu.
2. Go to System > Display.
3. On the right, change the position of the Brightness slider to set the desired screen backlight level.

Change Screen Brightness using Quick Settings

Open Quick Settings with the Win + A shortcut, and change the brightness slider position to the level you like.

You can also click any of the three icons (Internet, Sound and Battery) in the notification area of the taskbar to open the same flyout.

Change backlight level from the OSD menu

This is an option that can usually be found in the menu of external displays and all-in-ones. It is rare on laptops. First you need to refer to your display or device manual to learn where to find the menu button and open the screen picture settings.

Some displays may have a separate button or knob to adjust the brightness level, but most of them have such an item in the OSD menu.

Change Display Brightness in Windows 11 with hotkeys

This feature is typical for laptops. Many devices have function keys that allow you to easily change the brightness of the display. For example, if you are using a laptop, it may have an Fn key that can be used in conjunction with other keyboard buttons to adjust the brightness of the screen. Please refer to your device's manual to find if such a feature is available.

If the hotkeys for adjusting the brightness do not work, make sure you have the required display and keyboard drivers installed.

Change display brightness in Windows 11 with PowerShell

This only works for devices with a built-in display, like laptops and tablets. Do the following.

1. Open PowerShell from Windows Search (Win + S) or in the Windows Terminal.
2. In PowerShell, type the following command:(Get-WmiObject -Namespace root/WMI -Class WmiMonitorBrightnessMethods).WmiSetBrightness(1,<Brightness Level>)
3. Replace <Brightness Level> in the above command with a value from 0 to 100 percentage brightness level you want to set.
4. You can now close the PowerShell console.

Change Brightness Level in Command Prompt

This method is similar to the above and is applicable to portable devices with a built-in display.

1. Open a new command prompt (Win + R > cmd.exe), or select Command Prompt in Windows Terminal.
2. Issue the command powershell (Get-WmiObject -Namespace root/WMI -Class WmiMonitorBrightnessMethods).WmiSetBrightness(1,50). This will invoke a powershell instance and set your screen backlight level to 50%.
3. Replace 50 with the desired percentage of screen brightness.
4. You can now close the Command Prompt console.

Adjust Screen Brightness with Mobility Center

You can also use the Windows Mobility Center app to increase or decrease the screen brightness of your device. Windows Mobility Center includes quick settings like brightness, volume, battery, external displays, and sync settings. It is a classic Windows tool available in earlier Windows versions, and it is available on laptops.

1. Open the Win+X menu, using the Win + X shortcut; or right-click the Start button.
2. Select Mobility Center.
3. Change the Display brightness slider to the level you want.
4. You can now close the Mobility Center app.

Automatically adjust brightness with Battery Saver

If you own a device with battery power, Windows 11 includes Batter Saver mode. It can automatically dim your device's screen brightness. It effectively reduces power consumption and extends battery life.

To enable this option, do the following.

1. Right-click the battery icon in the taskbar and select Power and Sleep settings.
2. Alternatively, you can go to Settings > System > Power & Battery.
3. In the Battery section, click the Battery Saver option.
4. Enable the "Lower screen brightness when using batter saver" toggle option. Now when you turn on Battery Saver mode, the backlight intensity will be reduced to conserve battery power.

You are done. Tip: The "Battery Saver" toggle button is also available in Quick Settings, and can be added or removed from there.

Besides the above steps, you can specify the battery percentage value for the Battery Saver option to become enabled automatically. To get this done, set the percentage from the drop-down menu for the "Turn on battery saver automatically at".

Change Screen Brightness in Windows 11 using Graphic Card Driver Apps

Depending on which graphic card you have, you may use either Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA software to change the screen brightness on Windows 11. These options usually available for both computers with a built-in display, and for devices with connected external displays.

Intel Graphics Control Panel

1. Click on the Intel Graphics Control Panel in All apps in the Start menu.
2. Click the Display icon in the lower left corner.
3. On the left, click on Color Settings.
4. If you have connected multiple displays to your computer, select the proper device from the Select Display drop-down menu.
5. Change the Brightness slider position to the level you find acceptable, and click on Apply.
6. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog.

You can now close the Intel tool.

Adjust Screen Brightness in NVIDIA Control Panel

1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel. For that, right-click Desktop and select Show more options > NVIDIA Control Panel.
2. Click on the Adjust desktop color settings link under Display in the left pane.
3. Select the correct display if you have more than one connected.
4. Set the desired brightness level using the appropriate Brightness slider, and click on Apply.

You have changed the screen brightness. Now you can close the NVIDIA app.

AMD Software, Catalyst Control Center and Radeon Settings

1. Depending on what you have installed, open the Catalyst Control Center or Radeon Settings.
2. Expand open the  Desktop Management section on the left, and select Desktop Color.
3. Change the Brightness slider value, and click on the Apply button.

Third-party tool to Change Screen Brightness in Windows 11

There are a bunch of tools for Windows, including paid, freeware, and opensource utils that can change the screen brightness level on Windows 11. To name a few,

• F.lux
• RedShift GUI
• Win10 Brightness Slider

And many more.

For many years, F.lux has been my absolute favorite. I really like what it does. It is more than just a screen brightness tool. It takes into account the time of day, daylight and has many options to change, including gamma and blue light reduction. I highly recommend that you give it a try.