Welcome to BenQ Europe

BenQ Europe respect your data privacy. We use cookies and similar technologies to ensure you get the best experience when visiting our website. You can either accept these cookies by clicking “Accept Cookies”, or click “Only Required Cookies” to refuse all non-essential technologies. You can customise your cookie settings here at any time. For further information, please visit our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy.

How can I change my BenQ cookie settings?

Some essential features on BenQ sites just won’t work without cookies. And having other cookies switched off can seriously affect the way you’ll be able to enjoy our services.

Please check your cookie settings below and turn on any cookies you’re happy with.

“Strictly necessary” cookies can’t be turned off. But Functional and Performance cookies can be turned on or off below. You can learn more about cookies and what they do on our other pages.

If you've chosen to block third-party cookies on your browser, your cookie preferences won't carry over from benq.eu to benq.xx and vice versa. Please make sure to set your cookie preferences in both places.

  • On

    Strictly necessary cookies

    These cookies are essential so that you can move around the website and use its features. Without these cookies services you have asked for cannot be provided.

    See list of strictly necessary cookies

  • On

    Off

    Functional cookies

    These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make to give you better functionality and personal features.

    See list of functional cookies

  • On

    Off

    Performance cookies

    These cookies help to improve the performance of BenQ. If you want to opt-out of advertising cookies, you have to turn-off performance cookies.

    See list of performance cookies

BenQ Europe respect your data privacy. We use cookies and similar technologies to ensure you get the best experience when visiting our website. You can either accept these cookies by clicking “Accept Cookies”, or click “Only Required Cookies” to refuse all non-essential technologies. You can customise your cookie settings here at any time. For further information, please visit our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy.

Cookie Settings Find More
Price Qty
BenQ Knowledge Center / BenQ Knowledge / ANSI, Light Source, and LED Lumens? Convert ANSI Lumen to LED Lumen and Light Source Lumen

What is the ANSI, Light Source, and LED Lumens?

How to Convert LED Lumen and Light Source Lumen to ANSI Lumen

2021/03/05

“Wait…this projector says its brightness is 1,000 lumens while that projector says its brightness is 2,400 lumens, and they’re the same price? That doesn’t seem right, is there something I’m missing?”

1049625908

A common refrain for consumers looking for their first projector is to make sure they get the brightest projector they can. But when many of these consumers actually look into the issue, they end up facing a bigger puzzle: how to make sense of the various brightness specifications listed on the market. This issue is a result of the fact that some brands on the market tend to advertise brightness specs that are different than those used by most others. Of these various brightness specs a consumer might encounter, the most common are: ANSI brightness, LED brightness, and light source brightness.

Though the standard unit used for brightness, lumens, is used by all three types of brightness, the differences in their definitions cause their values to fluctuate wildly. This results in instances where a projector using ANSI lumens might list a value of 1,000 lumens, while another competing projector using LED lumens lists a value of 2,400 lumens. The question then becomes: if all of these types of brightness are measured in lumens, why are their values so drastically different?

Suffice it to say that the reason for this inconsistency is because each of the three types referenced above measures different aspects of a projector’s brightness. But before we go further into the differences between each type (we’ll get to that later), what most consumers really need is a quick way to convert the values of one type of brightness to another, which is what the tables below are for :

Brightness Unit Conversion Table
Convert LED Lumen and Light Source Lumen to ANSI Lumen

Convert LED Lumen to ANSI Lumen

LED Lumen
LED Lumen
120 →
LED Lumen
300 →
LED Lumen
480 →
LED Lumen
1200 →
LED Lumen
2400 →
LED Lumen
2880 →

ANSI Lumen
ANSI Lumen
50
ANSI Lumen
120
ANSI Lumen
200
ANSI Lumen
500
ANSI Lumen
1000
ANSI Lumen
1200

Convert Light Source Lumen to ANSI Lumen

Light Source Lumen
Light Source Lumen
830 →
Light Source Lumen
2000 →
Light Source Lumen
3300 →
Light Source Lumen
8300 →
Light Source Lumen
17000 →
Light Source Lumen
20000 →

ANSI Lumen
ANSI Lumen
50
ANSI Lumen
120 
ANSI Lumen
200
ANSI Lumen
500
ANSI Lumen
1000
ANSI Lumen
1200

*Generally, ANSI Lumens multiplied by 1.3~2.4, approximately equal to LED Lumens.

**ANSI Lumens divided by 0.04~0.06, approximately equal to Light Source Brightness Lumens

Analyzing the tables, one might notice the one constant between them: ANSI brightness. The reason why this is, is due to how each brightness measure is defined.

What is ANSI Brightness? What is LED Brightness? What is Light Source Brightness?
ANSI Brightness

ANSI brightness is brightness defined by the American National Standards Institute, which involves taking several brightness readings at different points of a projected white screen and averaging them together.

LED brightness

LED brightness is a brightness used by some manufacturers that attempts to quantify the added brightness that is perceived by the human eye as a result of highly-saturated colors, also known as the Helmholtz–Kohlrausch (HK) effect.

Light source brightness

Light source brightness is the brightness measured directly from the projector’s light source, prior to any of the effects of the projector’s imaging components.

Learn More
ANSI Brightness: The Gold Standard for Measuring Brightness

Based on these definitions, the reason why ANSI brightness acts as the standard for measuring brightness (as shown in the tables above) becomes more apparent. This is because ANSI brightness, as indicated in its name, is the only brightness measure which uses a standard, scientific methodology that is certified by an international body. This gives ANSI brightness measures a reliability that is not present in other brightness measures which may rely on arbitrary factors (as in how the HK effect is measured for LED brightness) or present an indirect brightness value (as in how light source brightness omits the negative effects a projector’s internal components has on its end brightness) to produce misleading/inflated numbers.

What is ANSI?

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system. Founded in 1918, the Institute works in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry and government to identify and develop standards- and conformance-based solutions to national and global priorities.

Related Articles

What is the difference between the various lumens units, such as ANSI and LED? How does each of these units stack up against each other, and is there a preferred unit to use?

While some consumers are just now getting introduced to projectors that use LED lights, the industry itself is already taking the next step in improving upon the design of LED projectors with the release of 4LED projectors. But what exactly are 4LED projectors? What are LED projectors? How do LED projectors work? Why choose an LED projector? What are the benefits of an LED projector? What are 3LED projectors? What are 4LED projectors? Why choose a BenQ 4LED projector?

What you need to know about throw distance and ambient lighting? Typically expressed in lumens or ANSI lumens, brightness specification is an important reference when selecting a projector. However, the practical meaning of projector brightness and how to choose a projector for your specific installation needs can be confusing. The following information will help you understand the relationship between brightness and projection effect, as well as application.

Recommended Products

Enjoy versatile entertainment with BenQ GS2 anywhere, fulfilling the needs of your whole family, whether it’s in your recreation room or outdoors.

BenQ's 4K HDR TK850i brings the theater experience home. From watching football to your favorite streaming movies and shows.

X1300i offers RPG, FPS, SPG game modes, immersive audio, and industry-leading 8.3ms input lag for smooth play in any gaming genre.

Was this article helpful?

Yes No

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Stay tuned for our product launches, upcoming news and exclusive benefits.

Subscribe
TOP