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Screen tearing


Screen tearing occurs when display memory and the screen are not updated synchronously. The updates to display memory and the screen might not be synchronized because the rate at which display memory is updated is either slower or faster than the rate at which the screen is refreshed. Alternatively, the updates might occur at the same rate but are not in phase with each other. The non-synchronous update causes two images to temporarily appear simultaneously. For example:

With Windows Aero (available with Windows 7 and up), screen tearing is no longer common. Display composition is now completely managed by the operating system and display updates are performed without tearing.