A display screen technology in which the pixels intrinsically generate the colors. The primary emissive display method is organic LED (OLED), which is used in smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs. In the past, TVs with plasma displays were also emissive, as well as the much older CRT. See
OLED.
Contrast with "transmissive display," which is non-emissive and refers to LCD screens that beam light through color filters (see
transmissive LCD). See
plasma display and
CRT.