Whether you're tight on space, need a smaller TV for a space that's not your living room or want to pick up a more affordable set, the best 43-inch TVs are a great option. Not every manufacturer will do a TV at this size, but there are some great options available to you.
Our current top pick of the best 43-inch TVs is the LG C6. It's the latest model that surpasses the impressive C5 model, with vivid picture quality, high brightness and a fantastic range of gaming features.
If you're looking for something more wallet-friendly but still want a flagship-level visual experience, we recommend the Sony Bravia 3 II as the best budget 43-inch TV to shop for. Bright, sharp details and pops of color, along with great brightness and gaming features, make this a worthwhile pick.
Whether you need the latest features, a bright TV for sunny spaces or a thin design and great gaming features, these are the best 43-inch TVs I recommend right now, plus a few other TVs we tested that didn't quite make the cut.
Most recently-released TVs now come with some AI features. Upscaling aside, most of these are gimmicks or novelties with limited use. Don't pick a TV based on these; the hardware and picture quality should be your main priority, as the software will change over the life of the TV anyway.
The best 43-inch TVs available right now
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Best 43-inch TV overall
The LG G6 is easily the best 43-inch OLED TV (alright, it's 42 inches, but that's close!), with better performance, colors and pretty much everything else compared to its competition. And the redesigned remote resolves one of our main complaints about the otherwise fantastic C5.
Everything we watched on the C6 looked great, and we were impressed with the variety of picture modes you can switch between, like Standard, Eco, Filmmaker and Vivid. Experiment with each one to find the option that suits your eyes best, but in our testing, we found it worked to set it to Filmmaker mode and leave it there.
Like the LG C5 before it, the LG C6 runs on the company's webOS platform, which is one of the most minimal and easy-to-navigate TV platforms. The C6 ships with webOS 26, which is a lot like webOS 25 but with more AI. Fortunately, we found you can pretty much ignore those features if you want to.
Like the others on this list, we tested the 65-inch version, which has a few differences compared to the 42-inch model. The larger one has 40W speakers, while the 42-inch comes with 20W speakers.
This sounds (!) like more of a problem than it is, as the audio is still good, and I also still recommend picking up one of the best soundbars if you want more immersive audio. The more noticeable difference is, once again, how bright the TV gets.
Now, this smaller model doesn't have LG's Brightness Booster; the pixels are closer together, and increasing the power risks the TV overheating, so its performance here is more limited than its larger siblings.
But it's important to put it in context. After all, we are talking about some of the best TVs available right now. The brightness on the 65-inch model is flawless, and even a bit of a drop in that performance on the 42-inch set will still blow away most other TVs.
- Read our full LG C6 review
Best budget 43-inch TV
Smaller-sized TVs are already supposed to cut costs down, but you still don't want to miss out on high-end visuals and top-of-the-line features. You want value where it counts, and that's what the Sony Bravia 3 II delivers. At just under $600, it's the best budget 43-inch TV you can buy right now. And yes, this one is actually 43 inches.
In our testing, it nailed color accuracy and punched above its weight for HDR brightness, hitting 520 nits in lab measurements. While you’ll find pricier OLEDs with deeper contrast, the Bravia 3 II’s overall picture holds up surprisingly well, and you’re not paying a premium for features you might never use in a secondary space.
We threw on the opening of "Project Hail Mary," showcasing dark spaceship interiors and scattered highlights, and the Bravia 3 II brought out plenty of detail, both in the shadows and in the midtones where other budget sets can get muddy. For a compact TV, that kind of balanced handling is what makes movies and shows watchable night after night.
Sony’s image processing deserves a mention, too. Even at this midrange price, the Bravia 3 II manages to deliver a cleaner, more consistent picture than most rivals at this size. As in, no cheap-looking soap opera effects or obvious artifacts.
On the practical side, you get a whopping four HDMI 2.1 ports — something even a lot of flagship sets skip at this price. That means you’re set whether you want to hook up a console, a streaming box or even a gaming PC, without playing cable shuffle every time you switch inputs.
For gaming, the Bravia 3 II’s dedicated game mode delivers the goods. It's a Sony TV, after all, so hardly a surprise. Input lag feels minimal, and everything from fast-paced action titles to casual co-op runs feels responsive. It’s not quite up there with the best gaming monitors or the absolute top-end OLEDs, but for a living room or bedroom setup, it gets the job done well.
Now, without local dimming, black levels lack the inky depth of pricier models, and the built-in audio is only passable (plan on getting one of the best soundbars). But for a compact TV that fits just about anywhere and doesn’t skimp on the core viewing experience, the Bravia 3 II is the best all-rounder at this size and price.
- Read our full Sony Bravia 3 II review
Best 43-inch TV for gaming
Yes, this is another of the best 43-inch TVs that's actually a 42-inch TV. But even though it's an inch off, the Samsung S90F is a fantastic set with incredible contrast that makes every picture look explosively vivid and colorful.
This was particularly clear while watching dark movies, which filmmakers love. On some TVs, these varied blacks end up running into each other, making detail difficult to pick out. But the S90F handled them exceptionally well, so you could really pick out everything happening in the scene.
Samsung has carved out a niche as a gaming TV manufacturer, thanks to its dedicated gaming hub and specific settings. Plus, on this model, you get a 144Hz refresh rate and four HDMI 2.1 ports, making it a good pick for console and PC gamers.
We tested it with the Nintendo Switch and the PS5 Pro, tackling titles like Armored Core 6 and Elden Ring Nightreign, and the fast-paced action sequences with colorful highlights really stood out.
Just like the LG C6, there are some differences between the 42-inch version and the 65-inch model we tested. The main one is that the smaller variants use a WOLED panel instead of the Quantum Dot (QD-LED) on the rest of the lineup.
There are some technical differences between WOLED and QD-OLED, but the practical effect is that the image isn't quite as bright or vivid on the 42-inch version. It's a compromise that's quite universal, as the manufacturer tries to squeeze all the tech into a smaller body and has to make some design choices.
The upside is that it generally means the smaller TVs are cheaper, which could be one of your main reasons for looking into 43-inch TVs in the first place. The difference is noticeable, but not significant, so while it is a trade-off, it's not one that'll dramatically change your experience of the still-exceptional S90F.
- Read our full Samsung S90F OLED TV review
Also tested
There aren't a huge amount of 43-inch models on the market at the moment (as most manufacturers prioritize 55-inch and above), so if you need more options, here are the other TVs we tested that didn't make the mark, but could be a good pick for certain setups or use cases.
How we test 43-inch TVs
We test TVs in two parts; lab testing to get specific performance data points and in our living rooms during everyday use.
The lab comes first; we perform benchmarks with Jeti spectraval 1501-HiRes spectroradiometer, a Klein K10-A colorimeter, a Murideo 8K-SIX-G Metal pattern generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman TV-calibration software. For gaming performance, we use a Leo Bodnar 4K Input Lag Tester as well.
This original testing data means we can compare each set objectively and consistently, which accounts for the fact that different conditions, lighting and variations in our eyesight can effect our more subjective at-home tests.
Once installed in our living room, we then use the TV, just as you would at home. We keep everything on default settings initially and then fiddle around to find the setup we prefer the most or gives the best performance.
We stream movies, TV shows and play games. We make sure to throw a diverse range of titles at each set, to really test out the vivid colors in something like Barbie or The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and the dark darks of The Batman, or pretty much any Christopher Nolan film.
How to choose the best 43-inch TV
Before you delve too far into your research, first: why do you want a 43-inch TV specifically?
Is it because you looked at our guide to choosing the perfect TV size for your room, because you're looking to keep costs down or because you're tight on space and want a high-performance TV that'll still fit into your room?
While the best 43-inch TVs are still fantastic, there are compromises (often in brightness and sound) on these smaller sets compared to their larger siblings, so you want to be sure it's a 43-inch model (or 42-inch as it is in reality) you really need.
Then you're onto what do you want to do with it? Is it for gaming, leaving on in the background or as a way to stream Netflix in bed? There are different technical or performance aspects that impact all of these use cases.
For background viewing, maybe picture quality isn't so important. And if you want to stream at night, it won't make a difference that the 43-inch models aren't quite as bright as the larger versions (though still impressively bright when needed).
If you're constrained by space, but still want a great audio experience, no TV really offers high-quality audio. So unrelated to the size, you'll want to add one of the best soundbars into your setup to get better and more detailed sound.
