Understanding Refresh Rate

I’ve been looking into frontend animation jank, which is related to refresh rate. I looked up some basics about refresh rate and took notes here.

What is refresh rate

Refresh rate refers to how many images a display shows per second, measured in hertz (Hz). For example, my MBP is connected to a Dell monitor, and in the OS I can see the monitor’s current refresh rate.

Refresh rates humans can perceive

The human eye recognizes around 10–12 fps as continuous animation, 24 fps as cinema-level smoothness, and 60 fps as close to day-to-day “no perceptible latency.” Studies suggest our sensitivity to change can exceed 200 fps, especially when tracking fast-moving objects 589.

Baseline perception thresholds

The human eye recognizes around 10–12 fps as continuous animation, 24 fps as cinema-level smoothness, and 60 fps as close to day-to-day “no perceptible latency.” Studies suggest our sensitivity to change can exceed 200 fps, especially when tracking fast-moving objects 589.

Individual and scenario differences

• General users: 60–90 fps is already smooth enough; further improvements are harder to notice 610.
• Esports players: 144 fps and above improves capture of dynamic visual information. For example, many CS:GO pros use 240 Hz monitors to shorten reaction time 39.
• Motion blur: Fast motion in the real world naturally includes blur; high frame rates in games can better simulate this and increase immersion 711.

From this we can see that 60 Hz is very smooth, and rates above 60 are not meaningless—differences are perceptible in specific scenarios like gaming.

Final Thoughts

Looking at the budget iPhone in my hand, it might be time to upgrade—no high refresh support.