All 188 projectors in our catalog listings, ordered by the ANSI/ISO lumen figure their makers state, with the price beside each one. Ultra-short-throw models are ranked separately, because they are not substitutes for a ceiling mount.
Read this before the table
Lumen figures are manufacturer claims measured in flattering modes, so we present them as claims: useful for ranking projectors against each other, but not the number you will see in an accurate cinema mode. They are ANSI/ISO lumens, which are not comparable to a marketing "LED lumens" or "light source lumens" figure — our normalizer refuses to write those into the field at all. And a lumen figure alone predicts nothing about your room: how bright the image looks is a calculation over the lumens, the screen's gain, its size and how much light you can control. Rough ranking — verify the model you choose against a measured review.
How to read it
142 of the 188 projectors in the catalog state an ANSI/ISO figure, spanning 100 to 7,000 claimed lumens. 46 state none in any source we track; they are listed at the end of their section rather than dropped, because a ranking that quietly loses rows is a ranking nobody can reconcile against the category page. Rank is counted within each section — 100 models stating a conventional throw type and 29 stating ultra-short-throw, with 59 stating no throw type at all and listed separately. Prices are our display figures, and they are a THREE-way split rather than a two-way one: 148 come from tracked retailers, 0 are the maker’s list price, and 40 have no price we can quote at all and read “unknown” rather than a fabricated zero. Every row says which of the three it is.
Conventional throw, brightest first
Long-throw, standard-throw and short-throw models — anything whose sheet states a throw type you mount at a distance. The figure is each maker’s own claim, so read the gaps between models rather than the absolute numbers, and remember that in a light-controlled room more lumens past roughly 3,000 buys washed-out blacks rather than a better picture.
Rows 1–4040 projectors
Conventional-throw projectors by claimed ANSI/ISO lumens, rows 1–40: ordered by stated ANSI/ISO lumens with the models stating no figure listed last.
Conventional-throw projectors by claimed ANSI/ISO lumens, rows 81–100: ordered by stated ANSI/ISO lumens with the models stating no figure listed last.
Lumens are each manufacturer’s own ANSI/ISO claim; we never write a “light source lumens” figure into that field, and nothing on this page is measured by us. This table makes no claim about whether a model is still in production — the product page states that. Ties are broken by brand then model so the order is reproducible.
Ultra-short-throw, separately
A UST sits on furniture inches from the wall and REQUIRES a lenticular ceiling-light-rejecting screen built for its steep upward beam — on an ordinary screen the image washes out whatever its lumen figure says. So these 29 models are ranked among themselves rather than against the list above: putting them in one ordering would invite a swap that cannot physically work. The figures mean the same thing; the products are not interchangeable.
Rows 1–2929 projectors
Ultra-short-throw projectors by claimed ANSI/ISO lumens, rows 1–29: ordered by stated ANSI/ISO lumens with the models stating no figure listed last.
59 of the projectors we track state a lumen figure or a price but no throw type, so we cannot tell you whether they are ultra-short-throw or something you mount at a distance. They are ranked here, among themselves, rather than folded into either section above — putting them under “conventional throw” would be us making the claim their makers did not. The throw distance table shows what each one does state about its geometry.
Rows 1–4040 projectors
Projectors stating no throw type, by claimed ANSI/ISO lumens, rows 1–40: ordered by stated ANSI/ISO lumens with the models stating no figure listed last.
Projectors stating no throw type, by claimed ANSI/ISO lumens, rows 41–59: ordered by stated ANSI/ISO lumens with the models stating no figure listed last.
Both downloads carry these rows with an EMPTY is_ust rather than a false one: an absent value is never a no.
Questions
What is the brightest projector?
By stated ANSI/ISO lumens, it is whichever model sits at the top of the table above — the ranking is recomputed from the catalog on every deployment of this site, and the cut date is printed at the foot of the page, so this page answers the question rather than describing it. Two cautions come with that answer. The figure is the manufacturer's own claim, produced in the projector's brightest and least colour-accurate picture mode, so the gap between two models' claims is more reliable than either number on its own. And the brightest projector is rarely the right one: past roughly 3,000 claimed lumens in a light-controlled room, more light buys washed-out black levels rather than a better picture.
Are ANSI lumens the same as the lumens on the box?
Often not. ANSI (now ISO 21118) lumens are measured to a defined procedure across nine points of a white field, which makes two projectors' figures comparable. "LED lumens", "light source lumens" and similar marketing units are not that measurement and can be several times higher for the same projector. Our field holds an ANSI/ISO figure or it holds nothing — the normalizer refuses to write a marketing number into it — so a row here either states a comparable figure or is marked as stating none.
How many lumens do you need for a bright room?
Treat 3,000 or more claimed lumens as the entry ticket for daytime viewing, and remember that the screen matters as much as the projector: an ambient-light-rejecting material buys back more usable contrast in a lit room than a few hundred extra lumens will. The honest version of this question is a calculation over lumens, screen gain, screen size and how much light you can control, which our builder runs against the exact screen you pick. The lumens-first walkthrough with real models is in our bright-room guide.
Why are ultra-short-throw projectors ranked separately?
Not because their lumen figures mean anything different, but because they are not substitutes for a ceiling-mounted projector. A UST sits on furniture inches from the wall and requires a lenticular ceiling-light-rejecting screen built for its steep upward beam; on an ordinary screen the image washes out whatever its lumen figure says. Ranking one against a long-throw model on brightness alone would invite a swap that cannot physically work, so they get their own section.
Take the data
The whole ranking is downloadable as CSV or JSON: one row per projector, with its section, its rank within that section, the claimed figure and a separate lumens_stated boolean — because a numeric column that sometimes holds the word “unstated” is a column no parser can type. The payload’s own method block carries the ANSI/ISO caveat in full, so a file that has been detached from this page still says what its numbers are. Both are recomputed when this site is deployed — the catalog is published once per build, so nothing here moves between deploys — and every row restates the date it was cut. Reuse is free for individual, non-bulk use with attribution and a link back; for bulk or commercial use, get in touch first — the same terms as the rest of our catalog data, set out on our terms page. If you quote a figure, please note the date you retrieved it.
Brightness is one of two filters, and this page is only the first. The bright-room guide walks the judgement — how much light you can control, and why the screen material buys back more contrast than a few hundred lumens will. The throw distance table answers the geometry half: which of these reach your screen width from where you can mount one. Then browse projectors and projector screens, or put a pair into the builder and let the compatibility engine check the brightness against the exact screen you picked.
Recomputed on every deployment. Cut for this page at 2026-10-11. Canonical URL: /tools/projector-brightness.