Guide
How many lumens do I need?
The lumens you need depend on screen size and room light. A reference table by screen size for a dark room, a living room and a bright room.
Guide
Lumens needed scale with screen area and ambient light. As a rule of thumb, a 100-inch screen needs about 600 lumens in a fully dark room, around 1,300 for a living room with some light, and 2,700+ for a bright room. Bigger screens and more light need proportionally more.
Brightness on screen falls as the image grows — the same light spreads over more area — and as ambient light rises. The table gives a rated-lumens target for each screen size in three lighting conditions. These are minimums; more is safer, and an ALR or CLR screen lets you get away with less.
Recommended projector lumens by screen size
| Screen | Dark room | Living room | Bright room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80″ | 400 lm | 850 lm | 1700 lm |
| 100″ | 600 lm | 1350 lm | 2650 lm |
| 120″ | 850 lm | 1900 lm | 3850 lm |
| 150″ | 1350 lm | 3000 lm | 6000 lm |
Frequently asked questions
About 600 lumens in a dark room, ~1,300 in a living room and 2,700+ in a bright room — more for daytime viewing.