Monitor bandwidth is proportional to the speed at which a monitor must be turned on and off to illuminate each pixel in a complete frame and is proportional to the total number of pixels displayed.

For example, a monitor with a resolution of 1000 X 1000 pixels which is refreshed at 60 times a second, requires a minimum theoretical bandwidth of over 45 MHz. Once overhead is considered for scanning and small spot size, the bandwidth could be as much as 100 MHz.