A plasma display is an emissive flat panel display where light is created by phosphors excited by a plasma discharge between two flat panels of glass. Plasma displays are bright, with a wide color gamut, and can be produced in fairly large sizes, up to 150 cm (60 inches) diagonally. While very thin (usually less than 10 cm (4 inches)), plasma displays use twice as much power as a comparable CRT television, and the high cost is prohibitive for most people. The use of phosphors, as in CRTs, limits their useful life to 20,000 to 30,000 hours.

Competing displays include the Cathode ray tube, OLED, AMLCD, and field emission flat panel displays.