Glare is the bright light that washes out a screen, makes you squint at your desk, or turns a west-facing room into a place you avoid every afternoon. Window film is one of the simplest fixes: it goes on the glass you already have, and you still keep the view.
When glare is worst
- West-facing windows in the afternoon. The sun is low and shines straight in, right when many people are working or watching TV.
- Autumn and winter. The sun sits lower in the sky, so it reaches much deeper into rooms, especially through south-facing windows.
- Screens near windows. TVs, monitors and laptops facing a window, or with a window behind the viewer.
How window film cuts glare
Tinted and reflective films let less visible light through, so the bright patch on the glass and on your screen is dimmer. Manufacturers publish this as glare reduction: how much less glare there is than with clear glass. Here are some of the films we cut, from their spec sheets:
| Film | Glare reduction | Light let through |
|---|---|---|
| SunTek Symphony Neutral (50% to 15%) | 48% to 85% | 47% to 14% |
| SunTek Solar Bronze (35% and 20%) | 58% and 80% | 37% and 21% |
| SnapTint Dual Reflective (40% to 15%) | 57% to 82% | 40% to 16% |
| SnapTint New Silver Reflection (50% to 20%) | 53% to 84% | 41% to 14% |
| SnapTint Nano Ultra Vision 40 | 57% | 38% |
A clear UV film like SnapTint Clear UV Block cuts almost no glare (about 1%): it's for fading, not glare.
How to choose
- Decide how much light you want to keep. Around 50% glare reduction takes the edge off and keeps the room bright. 70% or more tames a harsh west window but noticeably darkens the room.
- Neutral or reflective? Neutral films such as Symphony look like slightly darker glass. Reflective films cut more glare and heat at the same darkness, and add daytime privacy, but look mirrored from outside.
- Treat just the problem windows. Film is cut to each window's size, so you can do the one west window without changing the rest of the house.
- Try samples first. Samples held against the glass at the worst time of day show you exactly how much glare each film removes.
See all heat and glare films. Every film is priced by the square foot and cut to your window sizes. Here's how to measure.